64 People Shot In NYC During Violent Fourth Of July Weekend: Cops
NEW YORK, NY — A weeks-long surge in shootings in New York City continued over the holiday weekend as more than 63 people were shot across the five boroughs.
Cops said Monday that 64 people were shot in at least 45 shooting incidents across the city between July 3 and 5, according to NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said Monday. Last year, there were 16 shooting incidents and 21 victims during the same time period.
The shooting incidents, most of which happened Sunday, killed 10 people, according to police.
"It's unacceptable the amount of violence we had this weekend," NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said during a press conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday.
Monahan and Commissioner Dermot Shea continued to blame bail reform, the release of some Rikers Island inmates due to the coronavirus crisis, recent police reforms and an "animosity towards police" to explain the spike in crime.
The NYPD has not released specifics on whether the weekend shootings were committed by offenders who otherwise would have been in prison.
During a press conference on crime statistics Monday, NYPD officials said that 19 percent of murders in June involved a person who had been released from prison on parole. Of the 2,500 people released from Rikers Island because of the coronavirus pandemic, 275 have been arrested again, some multiple times, police said.
The mayor evaded questions from reporters Monday about whether he agrees with NYPD officials about where to place the blame for the spike in violence.
He specifically pointed to a court system slowed by the coronavirus crisis and the economic toll of the pandemic, but said no single factor is to blame.
"It's impossible to say which factor achieves which outcome — it’s everything together," he said. "We’re all working together to see our way through it. That’s the bottom line."
The violent weekend adds to an ongoing surge in shootings in 2020.
Crime statistics kept by the NYPD show that shootings have increased by more than 40 percent in New York City this year. The NYPD recorded 511 shootings with 616 victims as of June 28, compared to 355 shootings with 406 victims at the same point in 2019.
Here are details of the fatal shootings from the weekend, according to the NYPD:
10:07 a.m. Saturday, July 4: A man shot in the torso near West 111th Street and Lenox Avenue in Harlem. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
12:43 a.m. Sunday, July 5: A 20-year-old man shot in the chest near 207 Atkins Ave. in Brooklyn. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
2:42 a.m. Sunday, July 5: A 23-year-old man was shot in the back in front of a West 116th Street and Morningside Avenue building in Harlem. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Morningside hospital by private means and succumbed to his injuries.
4:22 a.m. Sunday, July 5: A 19-year-old man and a 27-year-old man were shot on East 39th Street in Brooklyn. The 19-year-old was pronounced dead at the hospital and the 27-year-old is in stable condition.
5:09 a.m. Sunday, July 5: A 40-year-old man was shot in the chest in the back of a home on Sutter Avenue in Brooklyn. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
5:47 p.m. Sunday, July 5: A 21-year-old man was shot in the chest on Christopher Avenue in Brooklyn. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
5:50 p.m. Sunday, July 5: A 29-year-old man was shot in the chest on East 170th Street in the Bronx. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
8:02 p.m. Sunday, July 5: A 22-year-old man, 27-year-old man and a 29-year-old man were shot on East 171st Street in the Bronx. The 22-year-old and 27-year-old were pronounced dead at the hospital and the 29-year-old, who was shot in the arm, is in stable condition.
8:47 p.m. Sunday, July 5: A 45-year-old man was found shot in the head on Gordon Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
This article originally appeared on the New York City Patch
