2014 a Violent Year in St. Louis

Nearly 200 people died in St. Louis-area homicides in 2014, but four neighborhoods in the city accounted for most of the increase over 2013.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 158 murders were committed in St. Louis through Tuesday — 38 more than the previous year, and the highest number of homicides in the city since 2008, when there were 167 murders.

St. Louis County had 32 homicides this year, down from 37 in 2013.

University of Missouri-St. Louis criminologist Rick Rosenfeld says the increase in four north St. Louis neighborhoods — Wells Goodfellow, St. Louis Place, the West End and Kingsway East — was the biggest factor. Rosenfeld says most areas of the city had no significant change in homicides compared to the previous year.