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Cuyahoga County medical examiner reports declines in homicides and overdoses, flags suicides and gun-access concerns
Summary
At an April 15 committee meeting, the county medical examiner said 2024 homicides fell from a 2020—2023 peak and overdose deaths dropped below 500, but he warned that firearm suicides and questions about how guns circulate in communities remain urgent areas for study.
CLEVELAND — The Cuyahoga County medical examiner briefed the county's Public Safety and Justice Affairs Committee on April 15, saying overall homicide and drug-overdose totals have fallen from recent peaks even as suicide-by-firearm and questions about gun access pose continuing concerns.
The medical examiner, in a roughly hourlong presentation to the committee, said the county saw a four-year run above 200 homicides from 2020 through 2023 but reported that 2024's total was ‘‘a 181'' and that preliminary first-quarter figures show a decline early in 2025 (36 through Q1 2025 compared with 46 in the same period in 2024). ‘‘I think this number, a 181, is pretty close to what we'll finish the year out, and we're not anywhere near 200,’' he said.
On drug deaths, the medical examiner told the committee that certified 2024 overdose deaths dropped below 500 for the first time in nearly a decade and that fentanyl-related deaths and seizures have fallen…
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