A look at the number of total shootings and fatal shootings since 2013, city by city.

(Notes to above graph) *These numbers reflect armed robberies and assaults with a firearm; they are not tracked in police records by whether the weapon was actually fired or not.

1) Del Rey Oak Police Department did not respond to repeated requests for shooting death stats;

2) This table does not included officer-involved shootings, which are not classified as criminal homicides.

The difference between a shooting and a homicide can come down to millimeters, if a bullet speeds through the body and narrowly misses major organs. That’s why looking just at the number of homicides doesn’t really tell the story of gun violence, says Salinas Police Chief Kelly McMillin.

“It’s not a good measure of violence,” he says. “It’s a good measure of tragedy.”

There are exceptions, like 2009, when Salinas experienced a record number of homicides (29). Many of those were carried out execution-style, McMillin says – after a victim fell, shooters would approach, firing a deliberately fatal shot from close proximity.

“Most are not like that,” he says. “In most cases, it’s more a matter of dumb luck.”

This year, gun violence in Salinas has been particularly intense, with 101 shootings and 23 homicides to date. McMillin attributes that in part to the dissolution of the Gang Task Force and general shortage of police officers, but there’s also some element of mystery: Shootings do sometimes appear to come in waves, even in cases that are unrelated.

The Weekly asked each local law enforcement agency how many shootings there were year by year since 2013, and how many of those were fatal. Their responses follow at right.