More than a dozen New Yorkers were shot in separate incidents this weekend, authorities said, amid an uptick in crime including triple the number of transit system murders from last year.
Two men, both aged 26, died from their injuries following two separate shootings in Manhattan, according to the New York police department.
Hours earlier, another 26-year-old man was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the Hudson Heights neighbourhood of upper Manhattan. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
The NYPD arrested a 28-year-old man and a gun was recovered at the scene, the NY Post reported.
Shooting incidents increased 127 per cent last month when compared to September 2019, according to new NYPD data. Murders were up by 40 per cent.
The stats showed that 152 shootings took place in September 2020 compared to 67 at the same point last year. Murders increased from 246 to 344.
Shooting arrests were reported to have reached a record high. September saw a 98 per cent spike in gun-related arrests compared to last year.
Murders are at a six-year high on the city’s transport network, according to officials and New York Times analysis.
Ridership on the New York subway has dropped to 30 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and overall, the number of crimes reported is down 40 per cent from last year.
However those figures mask a 16 per cent rise in robberies; a 24 per cent uptick in vandalism; and a 200 per cent increase in murders. Six people have been killed on the transport system so far this year compared to two people in 2019, the Times reported.
Edward Delatorre, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s police chief, said: “We have these high-profile crimes on occasion but that does not define the system.»
He added: “We are not going to tolerate lawlessness in the subway system.”
Amid criticism, the MTA has hired 85 unarmed security guards to patrol the subway and report crimes to the police, the Times noted.
The New York City crime rate still remains lower than those recorded in the 1980s and 1990s.
