Raleigh police report fewer homicides, burglaries in second quarter

Raleigh police said the city recorded 4 homicides from April 1 to June 30, 2026, down from 6 in the same stretch a year earlier. The quarterly totals also showed steep drops in burglaries, even as motor vehicle theft and non-fatal shootings moved the other way.

The department’s second-quarter data put robberies at 104, down from 121 in the second quarter of 2025. Residential burglaries fell to 128 from 176, and commercial burglaries dropped to 69 from 110. Total violent crime was down 1% year over year, and total property crime was also down 1%.

Not every measure improved. Motor vehicle theft rose to 447 from 424, a 5% increase, and non-fatal shooting incidents edged up to 17 from 16. That mix matters because the quarterly snapshot captures citywide totals, not the blocks or neighborhoods where residents may be feeling the most pressure from repeat thefts, break-ins or gunfire.

The quarter followed Raleigh’s 2025 annual crime report, which showed total violent crime down 1% from 2024, to 8,541 from 8,610, while total property crime fell 17%. Raleigh’s yearly homicide count also moved up slightly, to 28 from 27 in 2024, even as the second-quarter figure moved lower.

The numbers give Raleigh another marker on public safety as the city grows and as Wake County watches how crime trends in the county seat spill into nearby communities such as Cary, Garner and Wake Forest. Raleigh police posted the quarterly data June 30, and the figures show a city that saw clear relief in some of its most serious categories, but not a clean across-the-board improvement.