By Ramón Mercedes
NEW YORK.- Violence does not cease in the streets, warehouses or public transport of this city, despite the fact that in theory NY is a strict state for the purchase of weapons.
The first murder of this 2021 occurred one hour 10 minutes into the new year, when the 20-year-old African American Robert Williams was riddled with several bullets. This event occurred in Queens.
The last homicide in 2020 was a 26-year-old man shot in a car also in Queens, a sector of Jamaica, close to midnight on Thursday 31.
New York police responded to 1,531 shootings in 2020, 754 more than in 2019. There were 462 murders in the city, an increase of 41% from 319 last year.
2020 has been the third consecutive year with the most murders. Shooting incidents increased 97%, and the number of firearm victims rose 102%.
Such alarming violence had not been recorded since 2006, when 1,565 shootings were reported.Even so, the city remains much safer than in the early 1990s, when there were more than 2,000 homicides per year, said the Commissioner of Police, Dermot Shea.
Wineries in the five boroughs have become yet another scene of street violence.
These businesses, traditionally considered parts of the community, have seen a 63% increase in shootings and robberies by 222%. In addition, six people have died in or in front of these small premises.
According to the NYPD, the fight against crime in 2020 was complicated by the omnipresence of the use of masks and the deficit of police officers due to illness, fear of contagion, racial, political and union tensions, and a high rate of retirement.
The NYPD Commissioner said 88% of those arrested on weapons charges are back on the streets, leading to a historic increase in shootings that have left more than 1,756 victims, dead and wounded.
In the Big Apple, bullets do not distinguish between counties and victims: “A one-year-old baby sitting in his stroller at a summer barbecue; a 53-year-old teacher walking his dog; a young middle-class tourist, and a Mexican mother in her bedroom, there are just four dead from stray bullets.
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