The Number of New Yorkers Who Have Been Shot Since Jan. 1 is 900: the Highest Since 2002

By Yehudit Garmaise

     In New York City, so far in 2021, the number of people who have been shot is 900: the highest number for this time period since 2002, according to the NYPD’s crime data.

     Why hasn’t the city been able to get a handle on this?” asked a reporter who was referring to the last year’s crime spike, after pointing out last night's senseless shooting of a 25-year-old New Yorker.

     The mayor defended his leadership of the city and the NYPD by pointing to “the specific facts about the month of June,” when the NYPD showed that shootings in the city had decreased by 19.5%.

      In addition, in June, the NYPD increased its gun arrests by a shocking 99.4%, when the department arrested 361 perpetrators who carried firearms.

     On July 6, the mayor and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea claimed that the city was seeing beginning of the reversal of the city’s skyrocketing crime numbers, but as news reports continue to stream in of shootings, today, the mayor again launched into his script of recent months, whenever he is confronted with questions about the city's high crime rates.

      “It's been a horrendous situation where so much came unglued in our society because of COVID,” the mayor said. “There's no one who doubts recovery is happening.” 

       However, many New Yorkers who feel uneasy about crime, which hopefully, is slowly decreasing, perhaps do feel some doubt that the city will return to one of law and order. 

       Yesterday, for example, when speaking with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in Brooklyn about city, state, and federal efforts to reduce crime, Democratic mayoral candidate Eric Adams seemingly took a dig at the crime-fighting efforts of Mayor de Blasio and expressed the feeling of many that New York City has descended into a state of lawlessness.

     “We have thrown up our hands and we have surrendered our city,” Adams said yesterday at church in Brooklyn.

      The mayor, however, maintains his blind faith in the “economic recovery of the city” as the magic bullet that will finally make the streets of New York safe again.