The "City of Champions' is quickly becoming the "City of Homicides" after a homeless man was stabbed to death in Edmonton over the weekend, bringing the city's murder rate to 33 this year.

Edmonton now leads the nation in homicides, ahead of Toronto's 26, Winnipeg's 23 and well ahead of nearby Calgary's three.

In Edmonton's latest homicide, the victim was stabbed while sleeping on a bench outside a downtown community services building at 3 p.m. on Saturday. A 21-year-old man has been charged in connection with the death.

The stabbing was Edmonton's fourth homicide in seven days. Police are calling it a random act of violence.

"It's a very unnerving scenario to play out," Edmonton Police Det. Dale Johnson told CTV Edmonton on Sunday. "We're busy. We're keeping on top of all of them."

Criminologist Keith Spencer said there is no pattern to the city's recent murders.

"A few drug murders, a few domestic murders," he said. "There isn't a theme to it that tells you where you can intervene."

But some Edmonton residents are frightened by the randomness to the attacks.

One resident told CTV Edmonton that he doesn't "feel safe walking the streets."

City councillor Kim Krushell said that despite the murder rate, Edmonton is still a safe city.

"We do have a high murder rate right now and our chief of police is taking action," she said. "We do have more police officers out on the streets now than we did five years ago."

Last month, Edmonton got a new police chief who immediately doubled the number of investigators in the homicide unit. Arrests have been made in more than half the cases.

Edmonton had 32 murders last year.