Calgary recorded 26 homicides in 2022, with the vast majority shootings and three-quarters in the city’s eastern half.

LWC took a look at the homicides from 2022, which were up in numbers from 2021, but roughly in line with the five-year average.

Of the 26 homicides in 2022, 13 were known shootings, according to Calgary police information compiled from news releases. In comparison, seven of 19 reported homicides in 2021 were shootings. Between the two years (2021 and 2022), 16 of 45 homicides were targeted shootings.

(* Note: Calgary police reported 21 homicides to Stats Canada for 2021, and that number was also included in their annual report. We have asked for clarification on the two additional homicides.)

In the 2022 year-end interview with LiveWire Calgary, Calgary police Chief Mark Neufeld said that to date (Dec. 12) there had been 122 shootings in the city.

“That’s the highest we’ve seen since probably 2015 when we saw some significant gang violence,” Chief Neufeld said.

Chief Neufeld said only 25 per cent of shootings are attributed to organized crime in Calgary.

Overall, Calgary’s homicide rate per 100,000 over the past five years is lower than the Canadian average. In 2021, it was well below the cross-Canada rate of 2.06 per 100K (1.41/100K), and significantly lower than the rate for all of Alberta. (2.66). (Based on a population of roughly 1.4 million, Calgary’s 2022 homicide rate will rise to about 1.86 / 100K.)

Edmonton, for example, with a slightly smaller population, recorded eight more homicides in Calgary (34). Winnipeg, with a population of 850,000, clocked 51 homicides in 2022 – that broke a high of 44 set in 2019.