Minneapolis homicides double in 2010 compared to 2009

Richard Antwon Mayes-Lindsay was charged with second-degree murder yesterday, and Minneapolis has now seen its homicide count more than double this year compared to 2009.

By our count (see below), the number stands at 39, compared to 19 the previous year. Minneapolis police say the official number is actually 40, and we're trying to track down the missing murder.

Whatever the reason for the single discrepancy, the overall numbers are a shocking increase compared to the previous year's, which Mayor R.T. Rybak and Police Chief Tim Dolan trumpeted as evidence of improved policing.

At the same time, 39 killings would mark the third-lowest number since 1986, when there were 18 homicides. And this year's death count doesn't come close to the 97 recorded in 1995, when Minneapolis earned the embarrassing tile of Murderopolis.

The Minneapolis homicide trend line.

The horrific triple-homicide at Seward Market on East Franklin helped make January the second-most deadly month of 2010. But the highest number of killings, seven, came in July.

It was also in July that Rybak and Dolan announced the launch of Project Exile, a joint effort by city, county and federal authorities to crack down hard on crimes and criminals involving guns.

Here's our accounting of the 2010 Minneapolis homicides:

• Dec. 10: Mario D. Combs, 31
• Oct. 17: Leo Daniel Kohorst, 22
• Oct. 2: Maurice Meeks, 35
• Oct. 2: El Mio Ju Johnson, 43
• Sept. 25: Timothy Wayne Wilson, 28
• Sept. 17: Christopher de Ronde, 21
• Aug. 14: Charles Kentrell Jones, 17
• Aug. 3: Charles Anthony Means, 21
• July 28: Carl Antoine Miller, 47
• July 25: Gilbert Jordan, 28
• July 21: Cordale Moore, 26
• July 11: Lashon Scott, 27
• July 11: Tirso Cruz Gomez, 24
• July 5: Anthony Titus, 16
• July 2: Lionel Franklin, 38
• June 13: Andrew James Battees, 16
• June 12: Phelandis Depure Jackson, 29
• June 10: Matthew Deon Johnson, 22
• May 29: Cedric Hunter Jr., 18
• May 24: Derrick Gregory Martin, 20
• May 21: Anton Warren, 31
• May 21: Romaze Stevens, 30
• May 4: DeCarl Antonio Starr, 18
• April 28: Amy Terborg, 28
• April 8: Tony Gale, 37
• April 2: Pauline Nash, 42
• March 30: Kenneth Sims, 21
• March 23: Robert Blake Castonguay, 26
• March 17: James E. King Jr., 20
• Feb. 27: Alisha Neely, 17
• Feb. 13: Drew Heinkle, 25
• Feb. 4: Michael Fonta, 45
• Jan. 17: Marvin Ray Maynard, 16
• Jan. 20: Orlando Keith Nunn, 21
• Jan. 8: Walter Lee Dolley Jr., 19
• Jan. 6: Abdifatah Warfa, 28
• Jan. 6: Mohamed Warfa, 30
• Jan. 6: Anwar Mohammed, 31
• Jan. 2: Dontae D. Johnson, 31