More shootings recorded in seven months of 2020 in New York than in all of 2019

Since the beginning of this year and as of August 1, the total number of shootings in New York was 777. For the whole of 2019, 776 shootings were recorded in the city. The edition writes about it New York Post.

A 24-year-old man who is bleeding to death at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx on Saturday night, August 1, brought the total number of shootings this year to 777, surpassing the 776 incidents recorded in the entire year. This is evidenced by the data of the New York police.

And these are only the first days of August, there are still five months left until the end of the year. “It's only getting worse,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He believes that as the shooting continues, there will be retaliation. He called it a "vicious circle," adding that New York City police have worked hard to mitigate the impact, "but they are no longer able, and in some cases, are unwilling to do so."

An epidemic of violence has affected every district, killing or injuring 942 victims, including not only gang members, but also children. Among the grisly incidents - the June 28 murder of a teenager Brandon Hendricks in the Bronx, as well as one-year-old Davell Gardner, who was killed by a bullet during a July 13 BBQ - the boy was lying peacefully in his wheelchair at the time of the gunshot.

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The latest victim in New York would not have attracted much attention if it had not become the 777th in a row - a figure surpassing last year's figures. The police spoke to the victim at the Lincoln hospital. The guy said he was near 135th Street and Alexander Avenue, near the Mitchel Houses project in Mott Haven, when he heard the sound of gunfire. However, he realized that he had been shot only when he felt the pain of the injury.

“I've lived here for 55 years and have never seen such a dire situation,” neighborhood resident Mario Martinez said Saturday night. He noted that people today have access to weapons. “When I was growing up here, the most dangerous weapon was a knife. Chains and Bits. Then the next generation came, ”he said, adding,“ I don’t think it’s going to get better. ”

On the night of Friday, July 31, to Saturday, August 1, five shootings took place in New York - three of which were fatal - in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

This spike in violence began around 23:00 pm Friday in the Bronx, when a masked man shot and killed 21-year-old Shaiquan Wilson at a rally at 1741 Randall Avenue in Clayson Point.

The shooter - wearing a white face mask and all-black clothing, including a hoodie - can be seen in the eerie CCTV footage released by the police. The perpetrator approached Wilson, pulled a silver pistol from his pocket and fired a shot. The killer escaped.

An hour and a half later, at 1:35 am on Saturday, 34-year-old Forest Byrd was fatally shot in the lower back around the corner of his home in Laconia, also in the Bronx. The shooter escaped.

About half an hour after sunrise on Saturday, a 35-year-old man from Dix ​​Avenue was shot to death in his apartment in Far Rockway, Queens. The suspect is still at large.

“There is always shooting here,” said a 63-year-old woman returning home from the laundry room when she heard the familiar sound of gunfire. "There are bandits here." She added that when she needs to go out on business, she does it and immediately returns home.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and the police leadership have provided many possible explanations for the bloodshed: the coronavirus pandemic, court closings, anti-police sentiment, restrictive new legislation, the dissolution of the NYPD crime department, and criminals released on bail.

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De Blasio offered only a vague plan to combat this problem, which mainly boils down to buyback programs and increased foot patrols in areas where the sound of gunfire is most often heard.

At the same time, the mayor of New York has refused to consider the link between the spike in gun violence and the dissolution of the 600-officer division of the NYPD, which was responsible for clearing the city's streets of weapons.

Arrests with firearms are up 8% from last year when the crime-fighting unit was disbanded on June 15, but has dropped 60% in the past four weeks, official sources said on August 3.

The alarming trend began in May, when the city saw a 64 percent jump in gunfights during the month compared to 2019.

By the end of June, the city had recorded 205 shootings, up 130% from last year.

The two Brooklyn sections accounted for 109 shootings - roughly 14% of the city's total.

This year 75 shootings were recorded at the 58th East New York site, up about 14% from last year.

Nearby Precinct 73 in Brownsville recorded 51 shootings, up 50% from 34 last year.

As previously wrote ForumDaily New York:

• July 26 in New York was recorded 8 Kills, among the victims - two teenagers.
• June 8 in Brooklyn in 10 minutes in separate incidents were 7 people were injured.
• In just a week, from June 1 to June 7, the city had 13 murders committed up from five murders in the same week last year. The city also reported 40 gunfights last week, the highest in a week since 2015.
• Law enforcement officials say that they have not seen a worse situation than now in New York for seven years. The rise in the number of murders they associate with banditry and drug trafficking.