NYPD Reports Big Spike In Shootings, Including 17 On Saturday Alone
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There has been a startling spike in shootings across the city.
According to the NYPD, there were 57 shooting incidents in the past week and 79 gunshot victims, increasing the totals this year to 503 and 605, respectively.
The Department said there was a total 17 shooting incidents across the city Saturday, with 24 people wounded by gunfire.
MORE: Weekend Begins With Multiple Shootings Amid Citywide Spike In Gun Violence
On a radio show Sunday morning, Chief of Department Terence Monahan said the city has not seen this type of uptick in crime in more than 20 years.
Across the Big Apple, violence is still erupting.
Sunday picked up right where Saturday left off in a neighborhood near Frost Street and Morgan Avenue in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It's where a fight broke out at a large party and ended with two people getting shot. One of those victims is in critical condition after getting shot in the head, CBS2's Cory James reported.
"A lot of stuff that happened around here is a lot of just nonsense," resident Dillon Varela said.
Varela told James he has lived in the area for close to 20 years and that he noticed an increase in crime after a popular music venue opened in the neighborhood.
"With this whole club venue thing, this brings a lot of negative activity around here because they go in there, get drunk, they do their own thing inside there, then come out here and cause a lot of commotion," Varela said.
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Hours later, more commotion unfolded in Harlem. Video shows a police trying to recover evidence from a scene near East 105th and Third Avenue. Authorities say a 27-year-old man was shot in the leg by two male suspects who were allegedly on Citi Bikes.
Twenty minutes later, it was almost the same story in Queens. Police were investigating another shooting that sent A 27-year-old man to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg.
Monahan took to the airwaves to address the rise in crime. He said there are 1,200 people indicted for guns walking the streets and another 800 who have been arrested for guns that have not been indicted because court systems are not working.
Monahan also said the death of George Floyd changed the perception of law enforcement.
"It is a tough job for the police and we've been told by community members, council members, who have the loudest voice, that they don't want us interacting with people who are shooting off fireworks, or drinking on the streets," Monahan said. "The animosity towards police has just been absolutely unbelievable and cops are, you know, a little confused right now on what the communities want them to do, how they want their neighborhoods policed."
Monahan said he believes that the spike in shootings is the result of bail reform and inmates being released because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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