The city of Baltimore experienced it deadliest month in at least 43 years in July. Forty-five people were killed in the city's bloodiest four-week period since August of 1972.

As the month drew to a near numbing close on Friday, the Baltimore Sun reports police announced the unsolved slaying of Donte Dixon, a 29-year-old local rapper known as "G-Rock," who was fatally wounded in the 4500 block of Edmonson Ave. on Thursday.

Records show the city has experienced a dramatic uptick in violence since the police involved killing of Freddie Gray back on April 19. Since the 25-year-old died of still unexplained neck injuries, apparently sustained while he was in police custody, tensions have flared and violence has grown.

Six officers have been indicted in connection with Gray's death, with charges ranging from manslaughter to second-degree murder. They are all slated to go on trial in October.

In the wake of the Gray killing and the ensuing unrest that the incident sparked, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake fired Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts in early July, replacing him temporarily with Interim Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.

"Too many continue to die on our streets," the Associated Press reported Rawlings-Blake said at the time. "Families are tired of dealing with this pain, and so am I. Recent events have placed an intense focus on our police leadership, distracting many from what needs to be our main focus: the fight against crime."

Since then, the mayor has also begun holding regular public safety forums and is committed to an anti-crime walk at the AME Zion Church on Pennsylvania Avenue.

In all, there were 189 homicides through July of this year, far beyond the city's 2014 pace, which resulted in 119 killings heading into the month of August. Nonfatal shootings have also soared to 366, compared to 200 by the same date last year.

The increased violence is attributed to a number of factors, chief among them mistrust of the police, the sense of hopelessness many young black men feel over lack of meaningful opportunities, and competition among drug dealers for turf.

The illegal drug situation has only become worse since the riot following the Gray killing allowed looters to steal prescription pills from pharmacies. Federal drug enforcement agents estimate that gangs targeted as many as 32 pharmacies across the city, taking roughly 300,000 doses of opiates and causing some $9 million in property damages.

Meanwhile, arrests plummeted after the six officers were formally charged in the Gray killing, prompting many residents to accuse police of abandoning their posts and obligations to the community for various reasons.