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Year of Gun Violence Puts Tulsa 1 Homicide Away From Record

KWGS News-File photo

 With five weeks to go before the end of 2016, Tulsa is in a position to record its highest number of fatalities in a year.

Tulsa has logged 71 homicides this year, tying a record set in 2009. That year, a spike in gang activity was to blame for a majority of the killings.

Although handguns were used in about three-fourths of this year's killings, detectives say they're unable to find a unifying reason for the homicides as they have in past years, when gangs or drugs were to blame.

The city of about 400,000 averages between 54-58 homicides a year. The tally's been as low as 48 recently.

Police say homicides have occurred in every geographic area in the city, rather than a particular high-crime or drug-prone area.

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