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Watch as Minneapolis' goofy Mayor Jacob Frey dances in the streets with black Americans during Juneteenth celebrations even as his city has become one of the most dangerous in the country.
In 2020, violent crime—homicide, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery, which includes carjackings—increased statewide by 16.6% over the previous year, as reported by Minnesota police in the Uniform Crime Report. Murders alone jumped 58.1%, from 117 in 2019 to a record 185 in 2020. Violent crime continued to rise at an alarming rate in 2021, jumping another 21.6% over 2020. The murder rate statewide rose to another record level, 201, in 2021. In the seven-county metro area of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties, violent crime incidents rose at a slightly higher pace, 23.9% in 2021 over 2020.
Nationwide, violent crime has increased since early 2020. But Minnesota has seen the steepest spike in gun violence of any state, according to a 2021 study published by Scientific Reports with data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.