Phoenix police report a dramatic increase in the number of calls to police about gunfire during the four hours straddling the beginning of 2017, compared with the same period a year earlier.
Police say there were just over 360 calls during the two hours before and the two hours after midnight of Dec. 31, compared with just under 280 calls for midnight of Dec. 31, 2015.
Sgt. Vince Lewis says each call doesn't necessarily equate to a bullet fired because each shot could generate multiple calls and police have been encouraging people to report when they hear gunfire.
An Arizona law enacted following the 1999 death of a Phoenix girl struck by a falling bullet makes it a felony to fire a gun within or into a city's limits.
