CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago police say the number of homicides in the city climbed dramatically in January to 51, in the bloodiest start to a year in at least 16 years.

The police department said Monday that there were 22 more homicides this January than in January 2015 and that the number of shooting incidents during the same period more than doubled to 242.

Chicago has been a focal point of gun violence since 2012, when the number of homicides passed 500. After falling the next two years, the number climbed again last year, raising new concerns about the bloodshed.

The rise in homicides comes as the department scrambles to regain public trust in the wake of the release of a video of a white police officer fatally shooting black teenager Laquan McDonald.