Visitors make up 16% of Detroit homicides

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DETROIT, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Data from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office shows that 16 percent of homicides in Detroit in 2012 were out-of-towners.

Statistics released last week indicate of the 413 homicide victims in Detroit in 2012, 66 lived outside of the city, The Detroit News reported.

"A lot of suburbanites come into Detroit to get narcotics and pick up prostitutes, and they end up in trouble," retired Detroit Police Officer David Malhalab said.

"They'd get robbed, and when I'd ask them what they were doing in the neighborhood, they'd tell me they were looking for someone -- but they couldn't tell me a name or address. You knew what they were doing."

Detroit had one of the nation's highest murder rates in 2012, with 53 per 100,000 residents.