STARK DISPARITY IN GUN-RELATED DEATHS

A report by Denver Public Health is the first to look deeply at murders and injuries.

Black men and women in Denver are twice as likely to die from gunshots — and five times as likely to be murdered by gunfire — as white men and women, according to a new report.

Black men and women in Denver are twice as likely to die from gunshots — and five times as likely to be murdered by gunfire — as white men and women, according to a new report that nonetheless shows how firearm-related deaths and injuries reach into every corner of the city.

The report, which Denver Public Health released Tuesday, is the first of its kind to look so deeply at gun deaths and injuries in Denver, and it highlights the city’s inequities even as it reveals how deeply embedded firearms are in the city’s public health ills. Gun-related incidents are the fourth-leading cause of injury death in Denver, behind drug overdoses, falls and suicides but ahead of car crashes. The report found that 326 people died from gunshots between 2011 and 2015 and that those deaths occurred across all age, racial and economic groups.

The majority of gun-related deaths in Denver — 186 in the study period — were suicides, and Denver has historically had one of the highest rates of firearm-related suicides of any large city in the country, according to the report. Meanwhile, 115 people in the study period were killed in gunrelated homicides, placing Denver in the bottom third of big cities for firearm homicide rates.

But the report also showed that there is a stark disparity in Denver between who dies in gun-related suicides and gun-related homicides.

The highest rates of gun suicides occur in people older than 45, with the highest rate coming in the 75-84 age group. The highest rates of gun homicides occur among people younger than 35, with the highest rate occurring in the 15-24 age group.

But perhaps the biggest disparity is in the race of those killed.

White men and women make up the majority of people killed by bullets in Denver, whether in suicides or homicides, according to the report. Looking at death rates, whites are also more likely to die by gun suicide than blacks, although the difference may not be statistically significant, according to the report’s calculations.

But black men and women are substantially more likely to die in gun-related homicides — a rate of 13.2 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with the white death rate of 2.4 per 100,000 people.

Dr. Bill Burman, the executive director of Denver Public Health, said the report shows the need to take gun deaths seriously as a public health issue. He cited the example of fatal car crashes, which declined with safety improvements and public education encouraging people not to drink and drive.

Burman said programs that promote safe gun storage and better address mental health issues — especially among men, who make up 90 percent of those who die in Denver’s gun suicides — would help.