By LOUISE BOYLE

With 39 murders this year on its ravaged streets, this is the grim statistic that makes Camden, New Jersey one of America’s most deadly towns.

Last month, 27-year-old Robert Carstarphen was shot dead in an alley during a fight over drug dealing territory between members of the Bloods street gang. The following day, two more men were dead after a retaliation hit.

The deaths brought the total number of homicides for July to 13 – making the month the city’s worst since September 1949 when mass murderer Howard Unruh left the same number dead in a shooting spree.

Squalor: The crumbling residential buildings of Camden have become a war zone of drug dealers and pimps

Streets of terror: A Camden police officer pats down a suspect. There were 13 homicides in the New Jersey city last month

In the shadows: The former industrial hub of Camden rots with Philadelphia in the background

Last year, there were 48 murders in Camden but a record of 58 homicides in 1995. Most of the murder victims this year were male, with the youngest a 16-year-old boy and the eldest a 42-year-old woman. 

Camden was once a bustling industrial town but drugs and alcohol abuse now run rife in an area that is economically deprived – 44 per cent of residents live below the poverty line.

In the last decade, crack houses have sprung up amid the boarded-up factories and burned out houses. People live in fear of being robbed or shot as addicts roam the streets looking to fund their habit.

Most of the killings were gang members involved in drugs although there were innocent victims including a 39-year-old father of six who attempted to break up a fight.

Run down: Crack houses have sprung up amid the boarded-up factories and burned out houses

Danger everywhere: A man extracts copper from electrical wires while a woman sits in a burned out house

According to the AroundPhilly blog on Yahoo, one resident said: ‘We don’t have any real policing in Camden. They’re just out here to pick up the bodies.’

Nearly half of the police force has been axed in recent years, leaving officers overworked and unable to chase down suspects in homicide investigations.

In the 39 murder cases, charges had been filed in 17, according to police. There were 103 shootings in total from January to July this year.

One resident said: ‘We don’t have any real policing in Camden. They’re just out here to pick up the bodies’

No-hope-ville: Empty bottles of liquor and broken glass litter the side of a road in Camden

Members of the local clergy have been taking part in anti-violence walks on the streets to try to build relationships and ease tension among the disenfranchised and the vulnerable.

Young people were becoming swept up in the booming drug trade after being targeted by dealers as they face lighter sentences if caught. 

Revered Heyward Wiggins III of Camden Bible Tabernacle told Philly.com: ‘Right now, we are going to funerals of a lot of victims of the violence in the city, but we would love to bring about an atmosphere where we don’t have to attend funerals.’

Abandoned: These homes are a health and safety risk, with many of them simply uninhabitable

Dilapidated: Camden is filled with grubby roads and falling down houses

Source: dailymail.co.uk