8500 out of nearly 350 million is 1 in 40000 people. And how many of those 8500 were gangsters or robbers anyway? 50%? 90%? In any event, I'm having a hard time getting worked up over here.
The available data that I know of, which is sparse and big city in origin, says a large majority of murder victims are indeed criminals. That's in part where the bogus "gun you own may kill someone you know" statistics come from, e.g. a gang member killing one from another gang knows the victim, it's not a "stranger" murder.