SANTA ANA — Homicides in Santa Ana nearly doubled last year as a rash of gang-fueled shootings pushed the number of killings in Orange County’s second-largest city to its highest point in six years.

There were 23 homicides in the city last year, up from 11 in 2015, according to crime data obtained by the Register. The increase reversed a five-year trend in which the city’s homicides dropped to the lowest number in more than two decades.

The spike is notable because last year homicides in the remainder of the county dropped by 24 percent, the Register found. That dip was largely due to 61 percent decline in homicides in Anaheim, reaching its lowest level in the past decade.

Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna blamed the violence in his city on warring gang factions.

“We continue to target specific gang neighborhoods where we see an increase in crime with enforcement actions to curb that,” Bertagna said. “But what causes the violence? Nobody knows. Something happens in their (gang) world that causes a rash of shootings. You don’t know what it is until you start investigating.”

“We continue to do all the same things that we’ve always done,” he added. “Looking for hot spots in crime data that identify gang problems, partnering with the District Attorney (anti-gang unit), working with community and faith-based groups and attending meetings to learn what’s going on in the neighborhood.”

Shootings in Santa Ana reached a five-year high in January 2016, averaging one per day and prompting a flurry media coverage and City Hall hand wringing. In response, the police department bolstered its street presence, increasing gang member arrests, probation compliance checks and officer overtime pay to intensify enforcement in two areas under gang injunctions, Townsend Street and Santa Anita.

Police Chief Carlos Rojas said in December the department did not track shooting stats in a way that would allow them to be provided to the media. On Saturday, he updated his statement saying they could be provided upon request.

Councilman Jose Solorio said the department is trying to hire more officers and wants to speed up recruitment efforts.

Mayor Miguel Pulido said homicide numbers overall are down substantially since the 1990s when they peaked at nearly 80. But he said he is working with other city officials to boost resources for the police department.

“Even at 23 (homicides), we’re way down, but I want to bring it down further,” Pulido said. “We’ve had years in the 9’s, 10’s, 11’s, single digits and I think that’s where we can go.”

Pulido said he wants to “to strengthen the gang detail unit and the strike force.”

Santa Ana’s violent spike heavily influenced City Hall politics last year.

The surge of shootings in early 2016 became a focal point of the City Council election in November. Three of the four candidates backed by the Santa Ana Police Officers Association, including Solorio and Pulido, won and an incumbent council member was unseated for the first time in decades.

Members of the former council majority accused candidates endorsed by the police union – which spent nearly $300,000 on the campaign – of being beholden to the special interests of the officers’ group.

Solorio dismissed those assertions. He and Bertagna blamed the homicide spike partially on changes in state sentencing laws that they say left more gang members on the street. Researchers have cautioned against inferring such causation, noting that no academic studies have made that connection.

A spate of violence has continued this year. Four people had been shot and killed in the city as of Friday and most of those are suspected of being gang-related. Anaheim, which is larger than Santa Ana, has had five homicides this year.

Homicides statewide jumped 8 percent in the first half of last year, according to FBI statistics.

Serious violent and property crime dropped 3 percent in Santa Ana last year, according to the full-year data obtained by the Register, driven mostly by a decrease in theft. However, aggravated assaults, burglaries and car thefts in the city were all at or near decade-long highs.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect Police Chief Rojas’ story on whether crime stats are tracked and available to reporters.

Contact the writer: jgraham@scng.com or 714-796-7960