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Major Spike in City Shootings During Fourth Of July Week 2012
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jul 10, 2012
Modified Jul 10, 2012
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jul 10, 2012
Modified Jul 10, 2012
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Sure, we like to wax nostalgic about the city's Bad Old Days, but maybe they're not as far off as we think—NYPD data shows that this year's Fourth of July week saw a considerable increase in shootings as compared to last year. From July 2nd through the 8th, 77 people were shot in the city, as opposed to 60 shot during the same time period in 2011.
And while only eight of these shootings happened in Manhattan, as compared to 10 in 2011, the Bronx saw an increase in shooting victims from 15 to 17, and Brooklyn saw a major jump from 21 victims to 38 victims. The particularly brutal week closed out with the shooting of a three-year-old boy in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Other significant incidents included a triple murder in Jamaica, Queens on July 7, in which three men were found with multiple gunshot wounds from an AK-47 style assault weapon (a typically rare weapon that was used in two other incidents over the past year) and the gunshot slaying of a Bay Ridge shopkeeper on Friday.
Mayor Bloomberg has attributed the shootings spike to the usual rise in crime that accompanies summer. His spokesman, Stu Loeser, told reporters on Sunday that "the week that the Fourth of July falls has been bloody every year." And though shootings increased this year, actual homicides did not. During Fourth of July week in 2011, there were 18 killings, while last week saw sixteen killings out of eighteen incidents, meaning we might still be able to cling to the belief that crime really is down. Right?
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badolddays
bloomberg
bronx
brooklyn
crime
fourth of july
mayor bloomberg
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Rebecca Fishbein
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