FLINT, MI – It happens at almost every homicide scene.

A family member or a friend runs up to the police tape, looking for confirmation of their worst fears. The realization that a loved one is dead -- another victim in one of the nation's most violent cities -- is followed by screams, tears and anger.

Over and over again it happens.

In 2012, the city tied its all-time high record of 66 homicides in a year.

This is about more than a record.

It's about more than 2012.

The city has turned into a battlefield.

With 189 homicides in just three years, more Flint residents have died from homicides since 2010 than Flint soldiers in World War I. And, just five more people died -- 194 -- in Vietnam than the last three years.

One in every 542 residents has been killed here in the last three years.

Every one of them left behind loved ones.

They are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and aunts, uncles and cousins, friends from the neighborhood and classmates from school.

We've seen many of them at crime scenes. Some exchanged hugs while others were so irate they ended up in handcuffs. Some just stared, tears streaming down their faces.

They are part of who we are now as a community.

Just ask someone, anyone, randomly, and you'll be shocked to see how close the killings are.

I did just that. I went around the city asking two simple questions:

Do you know someone who was killed in the last three years? Do you know someone who knows someone who was killed?

The stories of loss, of tragedy, were everywhere.

•••

In teacher Andrea Consiglio's freshman English class at Flint Southwestern Academy, every one of the students is under 17. You'd like to think they've been sheltered from the violence.

Instead, nearly every one of the 25 students in the class raised their hands when asked if they knew someone who had been a killed. Two, randomly, were asked to share their stories.

One of the students was Ta'Kiela Williams. Her cousin was Jonaries Holden -- one of the youngest homicide victims in Flint and one of 13 children to die in the last three years.

Jonaries was in the backseat of his father's vehicle the night of Nov. 1, 2010, when a man in another vehicle confronted Jonaries' father about a $60 drug debt. The man shot at the car.

The bullet killed Jonaries and sent Davontrae Benton to prison for 30-50 years for second-degree murder.

"I cried all the time," said Ta'Kiela, 15, a freshman at Southwestern. "I couldn't believe that he died."

Next was the yearbook class at Southwestern Academy. Again, almost all of the 18 students in the class raised their hands. Again, randomly a student was asked to share her experience.

Adriana Carroll, a junior, said it was 2 a.m. on June 23, when she heard her mother scream.

Adriana ran into the room to see what was wrong, but it took several minutes for her to be able to decipher what her distraught mother was saying.

Eventually, she understood: Her brother, 18-year-old Denzel Carroll, had been shot and killed.

"We just started hugging and crying," she said. "It was real emotional. We couldn't do anything – we just sat there."

Denzel Carroll had always been someone Adriana could confide in, between playing basketball and joking around together.

He died after his friend, Troy Williams, 20, shot him with a rifle on Hillcroft Drive. Police said it was an accident and Williams has been charged with negligent manslaughter -- which leaves Adriana with a sick feeling in her stomach. She wants him charged with murder.

Now, she said she realizes: "Life is short."

"I want to do everything I can -- everything I need to do and want to do," she said. "It's crazy here. Day by day, it's getting worse."

Iayonna Massey, 16, a junior at Southwestern, had known Markise Parker for nine years, she said. Parker, 16, was shot to death outside River Park Apartments on July 22. Timothy T. Griffin has been charged with open murder in the case.

Massey and Parker had grown up together in the apartment complex where he was killed.

He was a "really special friend," she said. The two would talk on the phone into the wee hours of the morning about anything and everything, she said. His death was hard to grasp because it was so unexpected. She no longer has anyone who could talk to.

A couple days after his death Massey attended a candlelight vigil for Parker. In a makeshift memorial of candles and balloons, she laid a stuffed animal with a message that read, in part, "I'll always feel you in my heart and see you in my dreams."

•••

Victims' family and friends are everywhere, even paying bills inside Flint City Hall.

While there, Kieta Townsend rattled off a couple names of homicide victims she knew. Among them were Jalen Cox, the 16-year-old who was killed in September near Home and Glenn avenues, and Mauricia Christensen, killed Nov. 11 at a home on Gracelawn Avenue near King Avenue.

"I know a lot of them," she said. "I watch the news to try and figure out if I knew the latest one."

A few minutes later, James Crawford, 33, arrived at City Hall to pay his bill. Yes, he too knew a homicide victim.

Mike Veal had been an inspiration to Crawford, who went to school with one of Veal's brothers. Crawford really got to know Veal after he getting into trouble with drugs.

Whenever Veal saw him, Veal would question him to make sure he stayed on the right path.

"He would be shaking me saying, 'What are you doing? You doing good?" he said. "It inspired me, because he showed there's more good out here than bad."

Veal, 37, was killed on Oct. 10 at a home on Mary Street near King Avenue. His younger brother, McConnie Baker, is accused of killing him.

At a Metawanene Hills neighborhood association meeting, David Caswell also said he knew Veal. Actually, he knew both Veal and Baker in his days before retirement when he was a principal at the now-closed Cook Elementary School.

"When you know someone who was killed, it changes your whole perspective," he said. "I remember when both were in kindergarten running around on the playground."

•••

In the heart of one of the city's most violent areas is Bryant's Barbershop on Clio Road. The conversation here often steers toward the violence and what can be done about it, said owner Norm Bryant.

"I hear it all the time – it's the norm around here," said Bryant. "It's sad to know maybe you cut his hair or he's been in this barbershop at one time. There's been a couple times when you look at the obit section and say, 'Boom – that's who that was.'"

The way Bryant sees it, more cops is not the solution. There needs to be more cooperation between the schools and the city and more youth programs, Bryant said.

"You have to do more than police and prayer vigils after the fact," he said. "That's just a reaction. That don't solve nothing. We have to be proactive more than reactive."

The city has tried to fight crime -- but the killing has not significantly slowed. The Michigan State Police doubled its presence in the city to about 20 last year and more are on the way as part of Gov. Rick Snyder's public safety initiative.

The 110-bed city lockup reopened in October in hopes of having repercussions for less-violent offenders. The U.S. Attorney's Office also imposed in the spring of 2011 stricter penalties for felons caught with guns.

When Emergency Financial Manager Mike Brown was appointed in December 2012, public safety was among his top priorities, and that continued under Ed Kurtz when he stepped in because of the ballot proposal that was approved.

Part of that plan was stabilizing the funding for the department. In November, voters approved a five-year, 6-mill tax increase that is expected to bring 10 more officers to the department and bring in more funding to make up for dropping property values and potentially lost grants.

Police Chief Alvern Lock too says that for there to be real change, a real stop to the homicides the whole city needs to help. The community needs to help the police department identify the killers – and there needs to be a change in mindset, he said.

People need to change how they resolve conflicts, Lock said.

••••

While officials continue to try to develop solutions, the killings keep happening.

As he waited for his next customer, barber EJ Williams, 30, said he has known about 10 homicide victims. He was particularly close with Samuel D. Garner, 28, who was shot to death Jan. 17 at a home on Winona Street near Welch Boulevard.

"I always say you are put here to die, but you die with your kids and grandkids at your bedside," he said. "Your parents aren't supposed to bury you."

Williams was best friends with Garner's brother and considered Samuel Garner part of his extended family. Hearing about the death hurt, he said.

"It's the whole deal of hitting close to home," he said. "Not only are you taking away the life of a person, you're changing the life of so many others."