Twenty-six people were killed in homicides in Norfolk last year. It’s the lowest number officials say the city has seen in decades.
Norfolk experienced a spike in homicides during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching more than 60 in 2021 and again in 2022. Those were the deadliest years since 1996, but killings have been on the decline since 2023, Norfolk Police Chief Mark Talbot said.
The 26 homicides the city reported in 2025 marked a 30% decrease from 2024. The city also reported fewer non-fatal shootings and less overall violent crime.
Total violent crime was down 11% in 2025 from 2024, and total crime was down 16%, Talbot told Norfolk's City Council at a work session on Jan. 27. All shooting-related crimes were down 51% from 2023 and down 61% from 2020, he said.
“The best way to put it in a larger context is to recognize it is a success for this city, and recognize that there are real people who aren't suffering lethal injuries to a substantial degree in the city,” he said. “These are real lives that are impacted positively.”
The trend isn’t confined to Norfolk either.
The Newport News Police Department reported a nearly 62% decrease in homicides from 2023 to 2025 and a nearly 47% decrease in gun violence since 2023. Suffolk reported a 55% decrease in homicides in 2025. In Hampton, homicides increased 38% from 2024 to 2025 but have still been trending downward over the past five years.
Why this is happening is impossible to attribute to just one thing, Talbot said, adding multiple factors influence crime.
“There are obviously factors that none of us understand perfectly,” he said. “In our city, what is going well, frankly, is policing.”
Talbot said police officers are solving more cases and responding more efficiently to calls for service.
Ramin Fatehi, Norfolk’s Commonwealth’s Attorney, said promptly arresting those responsible for violence reduces the risk of retaliatory violence.
“One of the reasons that people will retaliate when there has been a shooting is, first of all, just the simple human desire for revenge,” Fatehi said. “One of the things that civilization has given us is that we don't just go out there and take care of it ourselves. That's why we have laws. But there has to be a sense that the justice system is both fair and effective.”
Community violence interrupters, who encourage people not to retaliate after shootings, and technology like Flock cameras also contributed to the city’s decline in homicides and violent crime, Fatehi said. Flock cameras, in particular, have been a “game changer,” he said.
“Cases that would have gone absolutely nowhere, that would have been unsolved with bereft family members, are leading to prompt arrests and convictions of wrongdoers,” Fatehi said.
He noted he can't take credit for the decline.
“Prosecutors have essentially no effect on the crime rate, whether it is the murder rate or any other rate,” he said.
Fatehi took office in 2022. That year, the city saw 63 homicides, the highest number in nearly 30 years. He said he didn’t stray from his promises of reform despite pressure to do so.
“What I am extremely proud of is that we have an all-time low murder rate in Norfolk, while I have implemented years of criminal justice reforms,” he said. “This is practical proof that we do not have to choose between public safety and civil rights.”
Declining homicide numbers in Norfolk and other Hampton Roads cities follow national trends of declining violent crime, said Ernesto Lopez, a senior researcher at the Council on Criminal Justice. The council reported that cities across the United States saw fewer homicides in 2025 than in 2024,
But just because crime is going down, doesn't mean it will go down forever, Lopez said.
“At some point it will flatten out and potentially even rise,” he said.
Fatehi is concerned that point will come sooner rather than later.
He said social policies that give people access to healthcare, jobs, early childhood education, housing and transportation don’t look like criminal justice policies, but they are.
“Those are all the things that really drop crime, regardless of whether it's murders or shoplifting,” he said.
As federal cuts to social safety net programs take effect, he said he worries homicide numbers will rise in 2026.
