NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Nearly twice as many homicides have been reported in Nashville so far this year compared to the same time period in 2020, according to the latest information provided by the Metro Nashville Police Department.

News 2 tracks criminal homicides in Nashville based on Metro police data, which shows 24 people have been murdered in the city since the start of 2021. At this time last year, the department had investigated 13 homicides citywide.

Nine of the deaths in 2021 have been in the portion of Nashville covered by the South police precinct, which includes the area between Nolensville Pike and Murfreesboro Pike. South Nashville, Antioch, Nashboro Village and Lenox Village are some of the communities and neighborhoods within the South precinct.

Twenty-one of the 24 killings this year have been shootings. There was also a fatal stabbing, a woman intentionally run over with a vehicle and a missing man found dead on the side of a road with head trauma.

Four of the criminal homicides this year have involved female victims. One of the victims was a juvenile identified as E.J. Utley, a 15-year-old varsity football player at Hillsboro High School.

Arrests have been made in at least eight of the killings in 2021, including E.J.’s murder.

News 2 spoke one-on-one with Metro Nashville Police Department’s Chief John Drake earlier this month about the number of homicides in 2021. He said additional resources were being placed in high-crime areas.

Chief Drake announced earlier this year an initiative that included an “enhanced shift” of patrol officers across the eight precincts. He said the enhanced shift would consist of nine officers and one supervisor, a total of 80 personnel. They will work from 5 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., which are the hours when the most violent crime occurs.

The officers working the enhanced shift would concentrate on responding “quickly and in numbers” to shooting and robbery calls to help identify and apprehend suspects, the chief explained.

Anyone with information on any murders within the city is urged to contact Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-74-CRIME.