Big Surprise: Murder Rate Skyrocketing in New York
. . .Until now. Over the month until June 7 — including the crucial Memorial Day weekend — New York’s murder rate more than doubled, to 42 murders, from 18 the year before — a jolt of 133 percent. Shooting victims, including wounded, are up 45 percent. Stabbings are up, too.
To be clear: Going back to the early ’90s, New York has never seen a sustained increase of this magnitude. Nothing close: The nearest spike in the early summer month was a short-lived 63 percent hike in 2006, just half today’s increase. And that increase did portend an 11 percent murder hike for all of 2006, the second-highest in three decades.
This isn’t an aberration coming off a good spring. For the year, murder is up 25 percent. If these rates hold, New York would end 2020 with an increase in murders twice as high as we’ve seen since 1990.
And no, it mostly isn’t domestic violence, involving people cooped up. Over the past month, we have seen 13 classic street murders in a few blocks around Brownsville: drive-by shootings, stabbing fights. Over the weekend, 19-year-old Tyanna Johnson died in a Bronx park, likely the innocent victim of a drive-by.
Last week, the NYPD launched its regular “summer-all-out” initiative, flooding 10 high-crime precincts with officers. In the past, this has worked to curtail smaller, more limited spikes. (Read more from “Big Surprise: Murder Rate Skyrocketing in New York” HERE)
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