NYPD: Weekly NYC Shootings Soar 127% Over Last Year

New York City shootings over the last week have skyrocketed by more than 127% compared with the same period in 2019, from just 26 last year to 59 in 2020, according to NYPD data obtained by News 4.

Between Sunday night until early Monday morning, there have been at least five shooting incidents with five victims, including one fatal, according to preliminary police data. Two were in the Bronx, police said, two more were in Brooklyn and one was in Queens. Police said that 17-year-old Brandon Hendricks was killed before midnight Monday on Davidson Avenue.

On Saturday, a man and a woman were shot dead in broad daylight by a gunman armed with an AR-15.

Police identified the suspect as Charles Hernandez, 47, and say he wore a blonde wig as he allegedly gunned down Chioteke Thompson, 23, and Stephanie Perkins, 39.

Last week, there were 55 shootings compared to just 12 during the same period last year to 55 in 2020, NYPD data shows.

A total of 74 people were wounded in the 55 shootings, at least 19 of them injured in more than a dozen shootings across the five boroughs on Saturday alone.

NYPD officials said Sunday that officers have responded to more than 500 shootings in the first six months of 2020.

There were 605 victims of the 503 shootings, police said. Through May 31, there was an 18.3% rise in citywide shooting incidents when compared with the same time period in 2019. There were nearly 60 shooting incidents over the last week.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea told PIX11 he’s concerned about the spike in shootings.

“We are trending in a very difficult direction in the shootings which is leading to homicides,” Shea said.

The uptick comes amid sweeping police reform in the city and a debate over slashing the NYPD’s budget.