AUSTIN (KXAN) — A crime analyst at the Austin Police Department found several trends in the number of homicides last year. One trend is a growing concern.

“The one place where we’ve seen an increase is the number of homicides that involve guns,” said Lt. Brett Bailey with APD’s Homicide Unit.

In 2018, half of the homicides involved guns, according to the analyst.

“In the past two years, it’s grown exponentially,” said Bailey.

The analyst found 82% of last year’s homicide cases involved guns. When asked if there is a reason for the increase, Bailey said, “I wish I knew why the increase. We don’t have any analytical data to fall back on, but that is definitely one of the trends we’ve seen is the number of guns being involved.”

Austin police are investigating the city’s second homicide of the year, a deadly shooting in southeast Austin.