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SAN DIEGO — Police are reporting a spike in gun violence in the city of San Diego.

On Saturday night, officers found a 16-year-old boy lying in a driveway in Lincoln Park. He was shot, and died from his injuries.

The latest data from the San Diego Police Department shows a 15.9 percent increase in assaults with firearms this year compared to 2019. An assault with a firearm could range from a shooting, to being hit with a gun.

The data shows there were 345 assaults from January to September 2019. Police recorded 400 assaults during the same time period in 2020.

San Diego Police Lt. Shawn Takeuchi called the jump a big increase, but he couldn’t say what’s causing it.

“That’s the magic question that everyone wants an answer to, why? I wish I had an answer for you, but I don’t know,” he said.

Takeuchi said San Diego police are encountering more guns on a daily basis, which ties into the increase in gun violence. He says the spike in San Diego echoes a national trend.

Nationally, this year brought record-high gun sales. According to data by the Gun Violence Archive, mass shootings across the country have also increased dramatically in 2020.

Despite the increase in assaults with guns, San Diego police say homicides in the city have not increased so far this year.