NEW YORK _ It's been a cruel summer for New York City as cops spent the last two months trying to cool a hot streak of violence that has left 107 people dead and more than 600 wounded by gunfire, officials said Wednesday.
Compared to July and August of 2019, the city saw a 171% jump in shootings, from 179 incidents to 486 this year, officials said. In those July and August 2020 shootings, 612 people were wounded, a staggering 178% increase from the 220 people shot during the summer of 2019, officials said.
The number of homicides also surged over the summer, with a 52% jump in killings, from 70 last summer to 107 during July and August this year.
In just-released August stats, overall crime rose by less than 1%, but most major categories of crime, with the exception of rape, saw increases. Car thefts led the pack with a 60% jump citywide. In August 2019, cops investigated 644 car thefts, while last month the number was 1,083.
NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said his officers were doing everything possible to quell the violence.
In past interviews, Shea has blamed several factors, including NYPD budget cuts, the coronavirus pandemic and slow court proceedings, on the sudden rise in crime.
"Despite all the continuing challenges, our NYPD officers are undaunted," Shea said in a statement Wednesday. "The work of our officers represents the best of the policing profession and it continues as they increasingly engage with all of our community partners to protect life, prevent crime and build safer neighborhoods."
Shootings in the city began skyrocketing at the beginning of the summer, culminating in a bloody Fourth of July weekend, where 41 people were shot, nine fatally, in one day. Police say most of the rampant violence is being sparked by street crews and gangs.
The bullets fired did not discriminate, with the summer's youngest victim being 1-year-old Davell Gardner, shot in his stroller after two men stepped out of a dark-colored SUV and opened fire at a cookout at the Raymond Bush Playground in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on July 12.
On Aug. 9, Christopher Ross, 53, who friends described as a playground peacemaker who often settled disputes and helped keep children safe, was shot dead as he played handball at his favorite court in Crown Heights' Lincoln Terrace Park, the victim of a stray bullet meant for someone else.
As of Aug. 30, cops had investigated 290 homicides across the city this year, a 33% increase over the 217 killings that occurred by the same time last year, officials said.
The number of people shot in the city for the year so far has jumped by 96%, from 631 at this point last year to 1,237 so far this year, officials said.
