Increased number of murders in Jacksonville this summer

An update to a story we first brought you on Jacksonville's Morning News Friday.  The number of shootings and murders we've reported over the past several weeks got us wondering whether crime had gone up in Jacksonville since last year.

We reached out to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and there has been an increase in the number of murders and homicides both this summer and this calendar year. 

According to JSO there have been 79 homicides so far this year through Midnight on September 5th, 63 of them murders.

In 2012 to that point there had been 65 homicides, 52 of them murders.

From June 1 to September 1 this year we saw 37 homicides, 34 of them murders.  That's up from 25 homicides, 21 of them murders during that period last year.