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Gary, Ind., again murder capital title

GARY, Ind., Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Gary, Ind., has regained the dubious title of murder capital of the United States, displacing Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, a report said.

With 60 homicides in 2005, an increase of five from 2004, Gary had the highest murder rate of any city with more than 100,000 residents, WBBM-TV in Chicago reported.

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Gary had a 2005 murder rate of 58 per 100,000 people. Outside the city, the northwest Indiana counties of Lake and Porter registered 95 homicides last year.

Gary police said Hurricane Katrina likely skewed murder statistics in New Orleans, the city with the highest U.S. murder rate in 2004.

"There's no way to keep records of anything down there now," Gary police Sgt. Thomas Branson told the TV station. "Hospitals were in disarray. Funeral homes in disarray.

"So it (New Orleans' homicide rate) could be artificially low. It could very well be," Branson said.

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