(ANSA) - NEW YORK, NOVEMBER 18 - Shooting in New York almost doubled in 2020. According to data from the police department, cited by the Wall Street Journal, there have been 1,359 shootings from January 1 to last Sunday, an increase of 95% compared to 698 last year.
Many of these took place in Queens, Bronx and Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, criminal charges for serious crimes have dropped by nearly 13%.
In a press conference, Big Apple Mayor Billde Blasio attributed the increase in shootings and the heat of arrests to factors related to the coronavirus, stressing that the closure of businesses, schools and places of culture are factors that have created a "perfect storm" in the city.
Nypd officials, for their part, attributed the heat of the arrests to the shortage of agents caused by the dramatic increase in those who fell ill during the pandemic, as well as by the cuts in staff due to the reductions in the budget of the department, decided by de Blasio during the protests of this summer.
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