Doctoral Student Helps Track D.C. Gun Violence Trends

“We're aware of these encounters within hours of the person hitting the hospital, whereas if you wanted to query hospital data for this, it would probably be released annually,” said Zamore, who has studied patterns of disease and injury for the department for more than a decade.

The dashboard, which displays data generated when patients are admitted, discharged or transferred from an emergency room, also fills a gap in pre-existing data by including firearm injuries due to assaults as well as accidental or self-harm shootings, Zamore said. In the past, most firearm injury data came from active investigations and had a primarily law-enforcement focus.

“I think the major importance is the entrance of public health to what was traditionally considered the public safety and law enforcement sphere,” he said.

Zamore, who is studying behavioral and community health, began developing the dashboard in 2020 after DC Health received a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Having worked on similar dashboard projects related to the COVID-19 pandemic and opioid overdoses, he knew stakeholder input was important. Zamore met with colleagues from area hospitals and public safety agencies, who told him they wanted faster and more detailed access to demographic information about the victims.

The new dashboard provides geographic and demographic data about locations of incidents and victims.

“Data, especially when it's properly presented, helps illuminate blind spots and guides prevention,” said Zamore, adding that he hopes the dashboard helps hospitals and health agencies better deploy resources, respond proactively to problems and ultimately save more lives.

“Kenan is doing exactly what we want our doctoral students to do: working in the community to apply their skills,” said Elizabeth M. Aparicio, assistant professor with the Department of Behavioral and Community Health.

Policy and research analyst David Marimon uses the dashboard in his work for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, an independent D.C. agency that works with other agencies and residents to address public safety issues. FASTER helps partner agencies understand who is affected by gun violence, as well as where and when.

“Hospital-based violence intervention programs have used this data to match their staffing to peak times,” he said. “On a broader scale, our public safety partners have leveraged this data to track gun violence and firearm injury trends, such as flagging upticks in injury among sub-populations.”

The dashboard is updated monthly for the public. Among its initial findings:

• Firearm-related visits to emergency rooms are up 18% in the district compared to this time last year.
• From January through May 2023, emergency rooms logged 545 visits for firearm injuries. Of that total, 399 were from D.C. residents.
• Ward 8 experienced the most firearm injuries (145).
• Black or African American men suffered the majority of injuries.

While the numbers are crucial for developing effective prevention strategies, Zamore said it’s important to remember the personal element of gun violence and its impact on communities.

“This is a lot more than plotting dots on a map or counting beans,” he said. “There's a tremendous amount of trauma that goes into a firearm injury, both on the individual level and the community level. … When someone's injured, there are people left behind to pick up the pieces, and it can take years to recover from that. We see the disparities, and this data shows there's really a need for additional resources.”