MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Milwaukee had 39 homicides in the first six months of this year, an increase over the first half of 2008.

Still, the police department says the city is on pace to end the year with significantly fewer murders than the 106 it has averaged per year since 2000.

Last year saw the fewest killings on record since 1985, with a total of 71. That was a 32 percent drop from the year before.

The Journal-Sentinel reports that the victims for the first half of 2009 range in age from 2 months to 77 years old. Of the 39 killed, 31 were black, according to the newspaper's database.

There's already been one homicide in Milwaukee in July, bringing the total for the year to 40.