This year is on pace to be the worst year for homicidal violence in the city of Cincinnati.Speaking before the city's Law and Public Safety Committee Tuesday morning, Assistant Police Chief Paul Neudigate outlined troubling trends across Cincinnati.Gun violence is up across the city, and if trends continue, it could be one of the deadliest years ever for violent crime in the city.“If you look at the charts, it shows that we are up 9% in total violent crime year-over-year in terms of this time in 2019,” Neudigate said before the committee.“That really doesn’t tell the story. There is a significant reduction in rapes, a slight increase in robberies – but I think what we’re here to talk about today is the shooting violence on the street.”In 2015, the city saw the worst year on record for gun violence. By Aug. 4 that year, Cincinnati saw 279 shootings, with 479 total by the year's end. So far in 2020, Cincinnati has already seen 289 shootings across the city.The trends are equally troubling when compared to shooting statistics from 2019. Compared to this time last year, Cincinnati is looking at a 48.2% increase in shooting victimization, Neudigate said.The assistant chief said the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders likely contributed to the surge of gun violence.“Once March hit and we implemented differential response and COVID was in full play, there was a significant increase in shooting violence,” he said.Increased gun violence was reported in March and April, as numbers gradually fell in May. Neudigate said the department regrouped, and implemented a Gun Task Force to address gun violence in problem areas in May. That task force was successful at reducing gun violence, he said.But gun violence again worsened as policing took a different approach come end May, he said.“Then we know what happened at the end of May going into June with the civil disturbance and the riots. You can see where we are ever since that occurred...We are struggling to address gun violence on our streets," Neudigate said.So where is this gun violence happening? Neudigate said many of the communities are no stranger to his officers, singling out Over-the-Rhine, West End, Avondale and Westwood as problem spots.According to a demographic breakdown, 252 of the shooting victims are men and 37 are women. Of those 289 victims, police say 260 are Black, 24 are white and five are what police designated as “other ethnicity.”So far in 2020, Cincinnati has seen 57 homicides, the latest coming overnight. That's a 36.6% increase from numbers at this point last year.“If 2020 continues on the pace that it is, this will probably be the worst year for homicidal violence that we’ve had on record,” Neudigate added.Of these 57 homicide, police said they have a 68% closure rate, well above the national average. That percentage will only increase as the year progresses, Neudigate said.A positive closure is considered an arrest; the death of an offender; prosecution is declined; or a suspect is awaiting grand jury presentation.