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On The One-Year Anniversary Of George Floyd’s Death, Minneapolis Continues To Struggle With Unprecedented Violent Crime Surge

(Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)

Greg Price Contributor
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One year after George Floyd’s death, the city at the center of last summer’s racial justice protests has experienced a surge of violence that has reversed efforts to defund the police.

Minneapolis has reported 32 homicides so far in 2021, a 108% increase from the 15 that were reported at this point last year, and just eight for the first half of 2019, according to data cited by Axios.

In the last month, three children under the age of 10 have been shot in the Twin Cities, including 6-year-old Aniya Allen, the granddaughter of an anti-gang activist who died last week from a gunshot to the head,  Axios reported.

Shootings overall in the city have risen by 153% this year compared to 2020 and carjackings have seen a 222% increase, averaging 1.27 incidents per day, according to Fox 9.

In the days that followed Floyd’s death, the Minneapolis city council voted unanimously to dismantle the city’s police department, a proposal that was later blocked by the Minneapolis Charter Commission.

The city council in December also voted to cut $7.7 from the Minneapolis Police Department, which was redirected to city violence prevention and community programs. (RELATED: Minneapolis City Council Complains About Crime Spike Months After Voting To Abolish Police)

Police most recently responded to a shooting at the George Floyd Memorial in Minneapolis on Tuesday as people gathered to pay tribute. A male was reportedly taken to Hennepin County Medical Center after he sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Minneapolis is one of many cities that set records for violent crime in the months following George Floyd’s death, as previously reported.