PITTSBURGH — Last year saw a jump in the number of homicides in Pittsburgh, even as other cities are seeing fewer slayings.

Pittsburgh police investigated 79 homicides in 2008. That number could fall to 73 if the bureau reclassifies some deaths as accidental or justifiable, including three police-involved shootings.

But even the lower figure makes 2008 the city's bloodiest year since 1993, when there were 83 homicides.

The number also represents a 28 percent increase from 2007, when the city recorded 57 homicides. Allegheny County as a whole had 120 murders in 2008, up from 98. The record, 125, was set in 2003.