2019 Hate Crime Statistics report, released Monday, documents 7,314 crimes over the year, an increase of about 3 percent from 2018 and the biggest increase since 2008.
The number of homicides more than doubled, from 24 to 51, largely because of one mass shooting — the anti-immigrant attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, that had many Latinx customers.
Twenty-two of that attack’s 23 victims are included in the report, while one died later, NPR notes.Crimes based on sexual orientation amounted to 16.7 percent of the total, the same proportion as in 2018.
But crimes based on gender identity increased from 2.2 percent of the total to 2.7 percent.The report reflects only the data voluntarily submitted by law enforcement agencies to the FBI,.