Friends or relatives are the most likely killers. This myth is usually based on two claims: that 53% of murder victims are killed by either relatives or acquaintances and that anyone could be a murderer. … What’s not made clear is that acquaintance murder primarily includes drug buyers killing pushers, cabdrivers killed by first-time customers, game members killing other gang members, prostitutes kill by their clients, and so on.

Wall Street Journal, November 11, 1998