There have been 167 homicides in D.C. this year, topping last year’s total of 166, the highest since 2008.

The latest homicide took place early Tuesday morning in the 4500 block of Dix St. NE. Police have not yet identified the victim. The year’s 166th homicide was recorded Monday afternoon, when members of the Sixth District responded to a report of an unconscious person in a wooded area near the 4000 block of Ames St. NE. An adult man was found and declared dead on the scene.

When D.C. reached 100 homicides over the summer, Police Chief Peter Newsham attributed the rash of killings to “repeat violent gun offenders being released back into our community.”

Another likely reason is the pandemic, which has stirred economic uncertainty and hampered violence intervention programs across the country.

“The pandemic has frayed all kinds of institutions and infrastructure that hold communities together, that watch over streets, that mediate conflicts, that simply give young people something to do,” the New York Times reported last month.

D.C.’s 165th homicide victim of the year was 16-year-old Kareem Palmer, who had plans to graduate from Eastern Senior High School and become the first of his siblings to attend college, according to the Washington Post. He was killed just hours after leaving his house in Anacostia on Halloween night.

The uptick in deaths is taking place amid urgent conversations about police reform. Protests have unfolded in recent days after 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown died following a police chase in Brightwood Park. After D.C. streets were flooded with protesters over the summer calling to defund the police, the D.C. Council voted to transfer funds from the Metropolitan Police Department to violence interruption and prevention programs.

“We know most violent crime is committed by a small percentage of vulnerable residents. If we can reach these folks and offer them a way out, we will prevent more senseless gun violence,” D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, chair of the Council’s public safety committee, said at the time.

But the homicides have kept climbing at a faster clip than they have in more than a decade.

At the same time, violent crime in general has fallen 6% over the last year. Reports of sex abuse and robbery have dropped 18% and 13%, respectively, according to police data. Property crime has also sunk 20%. This parallels a national trend of overall crime quieting down after stay-at-home orders took effect in the early days of the pandemic.

But David Bowers, founder of the anti-violence group No Murders DC, told WUSA earlier this year that the increase in killings is an alarming trend.

“It’s frustrating. It’s angering. It’s sobering,” Bowers said. “We need to understand that this is not a COVID-19 specific issue, even though it may be exacerbated by some of the angst that people are experiencing.”

More than 80 homicide cases this year remain unsolved, according to MPD. Police are offering rewards up to $25,000 for information that leads to their killers’ arrests.