Shootings soar 205 percent in NYC after NYPD disbands anti-crime unit
Former NYPD Commissioner reacts on 'Fox & Friends.'
The New York City Police Department’s top cop is pointing to the city’s release of Rikers Island inmates as part of the reason shootings have spiked, data shows, by more than 200 percent since mid-June.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday morning New York City is in the midst of what he called a “perfect storm,” with the impacts of COVID-19 and the release of some Rikers inmates as a result of past reform laws, both of which have contributed to the staggering rise in gun violence over the past several weeks.
“Look at the Rikers population of the last year,” Shea said during an interview on Spectrum NY1’s “Mornings on 1.” “Ask a sane person, it’s about half. Where is that other half right now? We’ve transplanted general population to the streets of New York City, and it’s extremely frustrating.”
The NYPD saw at least 44 shootings, from which there were 63 victims, from July 3 to July 5, according to data provided by the NYPD. The department recorded 16 shootings and 21 victims during the same time period in 2019.
NEW YORK CITY VIOLENCE: 8 KILLED DURING FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND
Between the hours of 12 a.m. Saturday and 6:30 a.m. Sunday alone, there were at least 39 people shot, including three who were killed, according to the New York Post.
There were 116 shootings reported between June 15 and July 2, a 205 percent increase from the same time period last year, the Post reported.
And, of the 39 murder victims reported in June, 28 suffered deadly gunshot wounds, police said, while 33 of the 39 incidents took place outdoors.
When asked how people were getting their hands on guns and why the city was seeing more shootings, Shea said the public was too focused on guns, rather than the people using them.
“Of course, you can’t shoot somebody without a gun, but it’s the people,” Shea said. “And there are bad people that do bad things and we need to do everything we can to take them off the streets of New York City to keep New Yorkers safe.”
Shea said the NYPD and city officials have driven crime down in the past by focusing on the “small numbers,” or the thousands of people, who have a history of committing such crimes.
“There’s gotta be things that are done intelligently, safely. Of course, we all want to reduce incarceration, we’ve done it in New York City,” he said, “but there is a tipping point and you’re seeing what happens now when you cross that tipping point.”
Shea said police are in need of support and noted that it’s “in short supply.”
“We need tools,” he continued. “We need laws that make sense, and then we need resources.”
At a news conference later in the day Monday, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan said the city had just experienced "one of the most violent weekends we've had in recent history and one of the most violent Junes we've had in recent history."
Monahan stressed that there was no single reason for the uptick in violence.
"There are many reasons, and it starts with bail reform that began in January of this year. It goes on with the district attorneys' reluctance to prosecute quality-of-life crimes and some City Council Members who don't want us to deal with quality of life at all," he said.
"And, in March and April, we saw prisoners, many who were convicted prisoners and parolees, released from Rikers due to COVID... On top of all this, the courts have been shut down and many individuals who are indicted by a grand jury on gun charges are not in jail but instead are free awaiting for the courts to open up. And, hundreds more criminals who have been arrested for possession of a gun have not yet been indicted by a grand jury because the courts are not in session. They, too, are not behind bars."
Other high-ranking police officials issued similar rebukes on lawmakers and elected officials who allowed the release of Rikers inmates in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri said the department has opposed.
Some 2,500 people inmates got out early from Rikers as a result of COVID-19, and 75 percent of those people released were convicted felons, Lipetri said.
"The NYPD did have a voice, and our voice was ignored. We recommended 96 percent of that population not to be released. It was ignored," he said. "Almost half of the shootings in June are in 10 precincts," out of 77 city precincts in all.
"Those communities are being overrun by the small percentage of gang members who have no regard for their own life and absolutely zero regard for the community," Lipetri continued.
On Sunday, the verified Twitter accounts for NYPD units representing different parts of Manhattan slammed public officials in separate tweets.
“Disgraceful the amount of people shot in Manhattan North in the past 24 hours!” states a tweet by NYPD’s Patrol Borough Manhattan North. “Where are the elected officials and violence interupter!! The community is suffering!!”
Soon after, the NYPD’s Patrol Boroughs Manhattan South and Manhattan North called out Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr., for his lack of a presence at crime scenes.
Chicago reported a similarly grim holiday weekend.
At least 13 people, including a 7-year-old girl at a family party and a teenage boy, were killed over the Fourth of July weekend, police said. At least 59 others were shot and wounded.
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The Chicago Sun-Times, citing police, said seven of those injured in shootings were minors.
Baltimore, Detroit, Memphis and Philadelphia also reported spates of gun violence over the weekend.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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