Early on in 2019, Smith said crime — especially shootings and killings — was fueled by two rival gangs. Police focused efforts on them. As the year progressed, a series of issues with entirely different neighborhoods or gangs cropped up.

Many conflicts were “magnified because of social media inflammatory language and threats,” he said. The disagreements ranged from drug transactions or family or neighborhood disputes to arguments among friends.

“They’re the dumbest thing in the world, but if you don’t have the ability to manage what other people say about you and what other people think, oftentimes the response is violent, and increasingly violent.”

While yellow crime scene tape spread to nearly every part of the city, including neighborhoods like the Fan and Stratford Hills that rarely see it, 15 of 2019’s homicides — or 22% — occurred in the city’s public housing neighborhoods. An argument or retaliation was listed as the motive in 20 of the 37 homicides — or 54% — in which police have determined a motive.

Police monitor these squabbles among neighborhoods, or rival gangs, and focused manpower where it might effectively deter violence, Smith said. But it doesn’t seem to matter.