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Aurora sees alarming rise in murder victims who are women

Five of the city's 12 murder victims so far this year were women.

AURORA, Colo. — It happened again. A woman was murdered in Aurora. This time just after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday near East Mexico and South Dayton.

"Upon officers' arrival, they located a woman suffering from an apparent gunshot wound in the parking lot. Tragically, she was pronounced deceased at the scene," said Officer Elizabeth McGregor, a department spokesman. 

This latest murder in Aurora took place just one day after a woman was found shot to to death in a car on East Archer Avenue in Aurora. Police say right now, they have no suspects or motives. There's also no information if the two murders are connected. But they are both part of a troubling trend.

So far this year, five of the 12 murder victims in Aurora have been women, which is more than 40% All of last year, 10 of the 45 Aurora murder victims were women – just 22% Those numbers were even lower in 2020 and 2019.

"I think the trends are all pointing in the direction that we are going to see more women being involved in these kinds of things. Not just as victims, but as perpetrators," said Jason McBride, a violence prevention specialist with Struggle of Love, a non-profit foundation that does youth outreach throughout metro Denver.

McBride said he's deeply disturbed by the recent increase in women, often young women, who are either victims or suspects in homicides.

"What we're seeing is women, and younger women, are taking a more active role in crime," McBride said.

McBride added that solving the problem will clearly take time but, for starters, he believes more anti-violence programs should be focused on young women.

"We need to get these programs to women, because they're taking a more active role," McBride said.

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