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Despite high-profile shootings, NYC gun violence is down citywide
By
Joe Hong
Published Sep 3, 2025
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Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
By
Joe Hong
Published Sep 3, 2025
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It was a grim weekend in New York City for gun violence.
Police said six people were shot in Brooklyn before the West Indian Day Parade came to a close. Five other people were shot in a Bronx drive-by, one fatally.
They followed a deadly shooting at a basketball tournament in Baychester last week and another in mid-August at a Crown Heights hookah lounge that killed three and wounded 11 others.
For many New Yorkers, the city feels less safe. But overall statistics show a different picture. Barring a handful of police precincts, overall gun violence is down this year, according to a Gothamist analysis of NYPD data.
Approximately 41 of the 78 precincts experienced a decrease in shooting incidents. Five precincts reported drops in the double digits, and 28 precincts had two or fewer shooting incidents. As of Aug. 24, the latest day that data was available, the average police precinct had an average of 6 shootings since the start of the year.
The NYPD said this amounts to 489 shooting incidents during the first eight months of 2025, a 20% decrease from the same time period last year. The numbers mark a historic low for the city and a continuing trend of declining gun violence since the pandemic, when numbers spiked to historic levels across the nation.
City Hall Press Secretary Kayla Mamelak told Gothamist that this isn’t “mission complete.”
“The long-term solution is keeping at it,” she said. “We’ll continue to drive down gun violence and continue to beat our own records.”
The 44th and 46th precincts in the Bronx saw the steepest drops, with their numbers nearly cut in half. Both had 17 incidents as of Aug. 24, compared to more than 30 in the same period last year.
A few of the city’s precincts, however, have been less successful than others. About a third have not seen declines this year, and one in 11 have seen higher numbers this year after a summer of high-profile mass shootings. Seven precincts had six or more incidents and an increase of two or more shootings compared to last year.
Take the 47th Precinct in the Bronx, which includes neighborhoods like Woodlawn, Wakefield and Fishbay.
According to NYPD data, the precinct has recorded eight more shooting incidents, a 53% increase, this year compared to in 2024. That’s partly due to the mass shooting during the basketball tournament last weekend that killed one person and injured four.
David Caba, the executive director of Bronx Rises Against Gun Violence, said the numbers show that the city’s efforts are working. In the past several years, Caba and his team have focused on treating gun violence like a public health issue by providing mental health services, job training and conflict mediation services, particularly for students between the ages of 16 and 25.
The program currently runs in the 46th Precinct and in parts of the 47th, but Caba said the data shows that his team needs to focus more on the latter.
“When it comes to the four-seven, clearly we need to be in these communities,” he said. “It’s time again for expansion.”
Mayor Eric Adams deployed 1,000 additional police officers to the Bronx to address these “hot spots.”
While the number of shooting incidents is slightly down in the NYPD’s Brooklyn South command, the number of shooting victims is up this year in the patrol borough by 14%, largely as a result of the mass shooting in Crown Heights’ hookah lounge.
Three people died in a mass shooting at a hookah bar in Crown Heights, according to the NYPD.
Ramsey Khalifeh
The patrol borough of Manhattan South also recorded a rise in victims, despite having fewer overall shooting incidents this year.
Two neighborhoods south of Central Park saw mass shootings this year. The first occurred when two teens were shot and injured near the Stonewall Inn during New York City’s Pride events. The second occurred in Midtown when a gunman entered an office building and killed four people, including an NYPD officer.
The patrol borough of Queens North, which includes neighborhoods like Long Island City, Astoria and Ridgewood, has reported an overall increase from 13 shootings last year to 24 this year as of Aug. 24.
According to police data, the spike in Northern Queens was fueled largely by three precincts: 104, 110 and 114. These precincts contain neighborhoods like Astoria, Corona and Ridgewood.
Christopher Herrmann, a gun violence expert at the City University of New York, said the numbers were surprising considering this region’s reputation.
“We’re looking at a 75% increase in shootings,” he said. “Queens North has always been considered one of the quietest and nicest parts of the city.”
He said the NYPD needs to zoom in closer to the block level to better understand the cause of this increase in these localities.
The Allerton smoke shop outside of which police say Jamari Henry, 24, was fatally shot is seen on Sept. 2, 2025.
Brittany Kriegstein / Gothamist
In an emailed statement, an NYPD spokesperson acknowledged the increased gun violence in specific neighborhoods but emphasized the overall decrease and the record-low number of incidents this year citywide.
The department attributed the successes to its summer violence reduction plan, which included sending 2,000 officers to neighborhoods with higher rates of violent crime. The NYPD has also hired 2,911 recruits this year, the highest number since 2006.
For Hermann, however, the question is whether the city will continue supporting policies like increased patrols in neighborhoods with high gun-violence numbers and the ongoing effort to get guns off the streets that led to the drop. He expects the city will move on to other priorities once annual shootings are down to pre-pandemic numbers.
But before shifting priorities, he said, policymakers first have to decide what is a “normal” number of shootings.
So far, Caba said he’s seen no sign that his organization will lose funding after having a successful few years.
“I think they see the value in this because it isn’t just about fighting gun violence,” he said. “It’s about an investment in the community.”
Brittany Kriegstein contributed reporting.
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new york city
public safety
Joe Hong
Joe Hong is the investigative data reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. He previously covered K-12 education for several newsrooms across California. His reporting has led to local reforms in juvenile justice system as well as a state law requiring universal screening for dyslexia. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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