(NewsNation) — Cities across America are seeing an increase in violent crime rates. In particular, Milwaukee police have recorded a total 135 homicides so far this year, which is 41 more than this same time last year.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the majority of those killed, 40%, were under the age of 30, attributing almost all the deaths to gun violence.

Capt. Timothy Gauerke of the Milwaukee Police Department said the increase in homicides is because of a breakdown of the family structure, and a “lack of social controls.”

“People aren’t having the positive influences they had in days past,” he said. “And so they’re finding influences on the street and things that are not productive, and they’re going with those social groups that are leading to some of this chaos.”

The Minneapolis Police Department is taking steps to address this, though, Gauerke said on NewsNation’s “Morning in America,” by partnering with community groups and others.

“People need to talk to their friends and neighbors and the youth, and they need to show them that violence is not the answer to everything and that settling petty disputes with a gun is just not the answer,” he said. “I think community members, clergy and schools need to influence the youth to teach them that.”