There was a big spike in the number of people killed by police last month

By Fusion Staff | August 2, 2015 | 3:59pm

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Media organizations and independent groups that track the number of people killed by the police in the United States have released their monthly reports for July. While their findings aren’t parallel, they all show a clear increase over June’s numbers.

The Washington Post reports that 101 people were shot and killed by police in July. This marks an approximate 58 percent increase over the 64 deaths they recorded in June, making July the deadliest month since the Post began tracking fatal police shootings in January.

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The Guardian also collects data based on the number of people killed by police in the U.S. Their findings aren’t limited to shooting deaths alone, so it’s not surprising that they report a slightly greater 118 police-related fatalities in July.

The July report issued by Mapping Police Violence—a research collaborative that includes prominent activists Samuel Sinyangwe, Johnetta Elzie, and DeRay McKesson—focuses more specifically on the number of black people killed by police.

According to MPV’s findings, 31 of the people killed by police in July were black. This statistic represents a disproportionate 45 percent of all police-related fatalities last month, as self-identified black or African-American people only make up about 13.2 percent of the American population.

The Washington Post‘s comprehensive numbers for 2015 demonstrates a similar racial disparity. A total of 564 people have been shot and killed by police this year, the paper reports, and 25 percent of them have been black.

The Post‘s data also shows that, while a majority of people shot and killed by police this year were armed, about 16 percent of them were not carrying a weapon of any kind. Approximately 10 percent of them were unarmed, like Sam DuBose of Cincinnati, and around 4 percent were carrying a toy that mimicked a weapon, like Tamir Rice of Cleveland.

The groups, and others, began collecting data on the fatal encounters with police because the federal government provides no such resource.

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