MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb mayor Lester Miller blamed local journalists for hurting the city through its crime coverage Monday. Miller joined Sheriff David Davis and Coroner Leon Jones at a news conference.
Over the weekend, the city logged its 53rd homicide of 2021. That’s one more than last year and the most since the FBI started tracking annual crime numbers.
Miller argued that number includes accidental or unintentional killings, and the city actually has 42 murders this year.
According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting site, the definition of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter is 'the willful killing of one human being by another' as determined by police investigation. It does not include the following: deaths caused by negligence, suicide, or accident; justifiable homicides; and attempts to murder or assaults to murder, which are classified as aggravated assaults.
The definition of homicide is 'the killing of one human being by another.'
Simply put, all murders are homicides but not all homicides are murders.
“The numbers are what they are, it's not my responsibility -- if you call me one day and ask me what the numbers are, if you call the coroner and ask him for the number, if you call the sheriff and ask him for the number... guess which number the media is going to choose? The highest number. It happens every single time. Guess what Facebook is going to do? Add 10 people to that. Guess what Twitter is going to do? Guess what Houston County is going to do? Add 20 to that. We have to have the same shared knowledge so that it's consistent across the board,” said Miller.
Again, 13WMAZ records show 53 homicides this year and that figure is based on news releases from Davis’ office, and regular checks with the sheriff’s office and coroner.
Miller declined to take questions at the end of the press conference, instead opting for one-on-one interviews.
We’ll have more on the mayor’s news conference at 5 and 6 p.m.