NYC's 2020 shooting surge reaches 'levels unseen in years,' police say
'The year so far has presented significant public safety challenges with gun violence continuing to afflict New Yorkers across the city,' NYPD said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The number of shootings through November in New York City has risen “to levels unseen in years,” the police department said Friday in announcing its latest crime statistics.
“The year so far has presented significant public safety challenges with gun violence continuing to afflict New Yorkers across the city,” the New York Police Department (NYPD) said in a press release.
The uptick in shootings across the Big Apple continued through November, with the NYPD reporting a surge of 112.5% for the month compared to the same time last year. The police department documented 115 shootings this November compared to the 51 reported during the 2019 month, officials said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Year to date, the department has seen gun violence skyrocket by 95.8% compared to the first 11 months of 2019 – 1,412 shootings so far in 2020 compared to the 721 by that point last year, police said.
New York Police officers block off the street near the scene where a suspect was killed during a shootout with U.S. marshals in the Bronx that left two officers wounded, Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, in New York.. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
The NYPD found that “40% of those accused of a shooting have had a past gun possession arrest, while 21% of shooting victims have had one.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Meanwhile, the number of murders for the month and year to date is also up. Police said 28 people were killed citywide this November, compared to the 23 murdered in November 2019.
So far, 422 people have been murdered in 2020 – a 38.4% increase from the 305 people killed during the same time frame in 2019, police said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But not all news was bad. The number of gun arrests made in November skyrocketed by 112.3%, from 228 in 2019 to 484 last month, police said. Year to date, police have made 3,793 firearms-related arrests, up 22.2% year over year.