ABC13 looks at where crime rate is up and down in Houston following 1 weekend with no homicides

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A deadly night in Houston comes as city leaders held an update on violent crime on Wednesday morning.

Mayor Sylvester Turner and Chief Troy Finner spoke about crime reduction.

Although murders are down 10% from a year ago, the number is still higher than pre-pandemic levels.

Over the weekend, the mayor noted in a tweet that the city went one full weekend without a killing.

While that may have been the case in the city, it was not for the surrounding area.

In San Jacinto County, five people were killed, allegedly by their neighbor, Francisco Oropesa. A four-day manhunt for Oropesa ended on Tuesday night.

The success of a murder-free weekend was also short lived back within the city limits.

Overnight, police responded to two deadly shootings.

The first incident happened at about 12:30 a.m. in the 11200 block of Bissonnet and Leawood in southwest Houston.

In that case, police told ABC13 that two men got into a fight with another man and a woman, who were in a red car in the parking lot of a convenience store.

One of the victims walked to the driver's side, and the driver shot him several times, killing him, police said.

The woman then got out of the car and got into a fight with the second victim, who took off running toward an apartment complex.

The driver followed the second victim and shot him, authorities said.

The second man is expected to survive, but the driver and the woman got away.

About 45 minutes later, on Wirt Road near Amelia Road in northwest Houston, there was a second shooting at a convenience store.

According to officials, four men were involved. Two of them were already at the store waiting in the parking lot and two others drove up.

One of the suspects and the two victims began fighting. During that altercation, the second suspect shot both victims multiple times.

One victim died at the scene. The second man, who is just 19, drove himself to the hospital.

The suspects got away, but authorities shared surveillance images. Police didn't have strong descriptions, only that they are two young Hispanic males. The man believed to have fired the gun is wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.

Anyone with information is asked to call HPD's Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or can speak anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

During Wednesday's city council meeting, leaders focused on crime being down district by district.

ABC13 took a deeper dive into the information with our Neighborhood Safety Tracker and our data team.

Over the last 12 months, the violent crime rate is down in 90 of the 111 police beats ABC13 studied when compared to the average violent crime rate over the previous four years. It's down by more than 10% in 45 of those police beats.

The violent crime rate in the early part of this year so far is on a downward trend in most areas of the city. The violent crime rate over the last 12 months is lower than the violent crime rate in 2022 in 79 of those 111 police beats. However, we excluded airports from this list since there's generally not a large resident population or violent crime right by those areas.

ABC13 also looked at the five neighborhoods with the highest violent crime rate over the last 12 months, again based on information from our data team and the Neighborhood Safety Tracker. Keep in mind that when it comes to Midtown and the Central Business District, those places have large numbers of visitors daily who don't factor into their populations. Still, they are part of the areas with the highest violent crime rate based on official population.

Violent crimes include murder, robbery, aggravated assault and rape.

- 499 violent crimes in the last 12 months. That's a rate of 6.2 per 1,000 people, and that's also down 20% compared to the four-year average.

- 1,175 violent crimes in the last 12 months. That's a rate of 5.6 per 1,000 people, and that's also down 10% compared to the four-year average.

- 640 violent crimes in the last 12 months. That's a rate of 5.3 per 1,000 people. It's also down 14% compared to the four-year average.

- 1,446 violent crimes in the last 12 months. That's a rate of 5.1 per 1,000 people. That's also down 10.2% compared to the four-year average.

- 856 violent crimes in the last 12 months. That's a rate of 5.0 per 1,000 people. However, that's up 17.6% compared to the four-year average.

For more on what came out of the city council meeting and what leaders had to say, look for updates on later editions this evening of Eyewitness News.

For updates on this story, follow Brooke Taylor on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.