Atlantic City sees spike in violent crime with 5 homicides so far this year

ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (WPVI) -- Atlantic City is up to five homicides for the year so far, leaving officials trying new tactics to combat gun violence.

City officials say this comes after somewhat of a dip in crime in recent years.

According to FBI data, there were seven homicides in all of last year and seven the year before.

"Everybody needs to put the guns down and do something else," said Coriyah Willis who grew up in Atlantic City. "Because it's kids out here dying, that's the sad part."

SEE ALSO: Atlantic City officials announce plans to combat recent rise in violent crime

There were four homicides in the first week of the year and another over the weekend.

Action News spoke with one resident who says she knew the 14-year-old boy who was shot to death on January 5 on the 3300 block of Atlantic Ave.

"It is sad because he's a little boy at the end of the day," said Willis.

Two of the homicides happened on New Year's Day, followed by two more on January 5 and 7.

The most recent homicide happened this past Saturday when a 32-year-old man was shot to death on North Virginia Avenue.

His death was just ruled a homicide after an autopsy was performed Thursday.

Last week, city officials held a news conference, promising to install more cameras throughout the city. They also announced plans to hire 30 new police officers using a recently awarded grant.

"We can't let our guard down because just in the snap of a finger it can go the other way and that's what's happening now," said Mayor Marty Small Sr. "But I have full faith in our Atlantic City Police Department. I have full faith in our anti-violence team."

Small says he hopes community members will work with the city to help stop the violence, including getting kids involved in available programs.

"We have a youth program, which we send youth to work and we're doing all we can. It just takes a collaborative effort. Everybody gotta work together. There's no need to finger-point," said Small.

There have been arrests made in some of these cases.

The mayor plans to address this more in his State of the City address coming up next week.