Vicksburg and Warren County are on pace so far to make 2011 one of the deadliest years in recent memory.

In the six weeks from May 2 to June 13, city and county law enforcement investigated six homicides and two other gunshot-related deaths. The cases include a woman believed shot in the head by her step-daughter, a father accused of killing his son and an 11-year-old boy fatally shot by a life-long family friend.

Seven homicides have been investigated locally so far in 2011, three by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and four by the Vicksburg Police Department. With more than six months left in 2011, the total is the highest since nine were recorded in 2008.

City and county law enforcement together recorded three homicides in 2009 and in 2010.

In addition, so far in 2011 police and deputies have responded to five traffic-related fatalities, including vehicle wrecks and a pedestrian killed by a hit-and-run driver, as well as six accidental deaths from such causes as a house fire, a falling tree and a drowning.