"It's certainly more than we're used to having," he said. The city has averaged about 15 homicides per year since 2014, Coburn said. In 2017, Wilmington neared this year’s totals with 20 homicides. The following year, the city saw 9 homicides. In 2020, Wilmington saw at least one homicide every month. The final three months of the year brought a total of eight homicides. Such a wave of crime is not unprecedented, according to Coburn. Guns a common factor in Wilmington homicides, crime Guns are the common thread in many of Wilmington’s 2020 homicides, Coburn said. Shootings made up 18, or nearly 82%, of the city’s homicide deaths.