Reuters 01/04
    LOS ANGELES, Jan 4, Reuter - Los Angeles residents killed each
other in record numbers in 1992, the year the second- largest U.S.
city was hit by the worst riots this century, authorities said on
Monday.
    Statistics released by the Los Angeles Police Department showed
there were 1,063 homicides in the city from January 1 to December 21
of last year, 24 more than all of 1991, the previous record.
    Los Angeles traditionally ranks among the nation's murder
capitals. Last year's figures are expected to go even higher once
the official death count from 1992's final week are added in.
    Los Angeles County, which includes the city plus dozens of other
municipalities, had a record 2,589 homicides last year compared with
2,401 in 1991, an increase of nearly eight per cent, the county
coroner's office said.
    The 1992 homicide rate includes 53 people killed when riots
erupted in April after four white policemen were acquitted in the
beating of black motorist Rodney King.
    "Every year there has been an increase, every single year,"
noted coroner's spokesman Scott Carrier.
    Though the largest black street gangs have mostly observed a
truce since the riots, gang warfare has continued to plague many
inner-city neighbourhoods.