Shootings spike as temperatures rise in NYC, surging over 50% last week: NYPD data
Gun violence in New York City has spiked along with the mercury, with shootings up more than 50% last week compared to the same time last year — indicating that the Big Apple could be in for a bloody summer.
A total of 23 shootings were reported across the five boroughs in the week starting April 21, according to new NYPD statistics — an increase of 53% from the 15 shootings tallied over the same period in 2024.
Temperatures in Gotham hit a high of 82 degrees last Tuesday, making it the second-warmest day in April, according to Accuweather.
Last week, overall, was the warmest week of the month, with the average temperature hovering around 74 degrees, the weather data show.
The NYPD statistics also show that over a 28-day period ending on Sunday, gunplay was up 17% compared to last year — with 61 shootings, versus 52 shootings over the same period in 2024.
Victims of the senseless violence last week include 61-year-old grandmother and trailblazing Harlem bodega owner Excenia Mette, who was caught in crossfire and fatally shot in the head when she ran outside to check on her grandson.
Another innocent bystander, 28-year-old plumber's apprentice Daoud Marji, was also killed by a stray bullet to the head just a day later while he was visiting a pal in the Bronx.
Meanwhile, an off-duty NYPD cop was grazed in the leg Sunday morning when two career criminals opened fire as they apparently tried to swipe his neon green BMW in Queens.
And early Wednesday, a 29-year-old Times Square food vendor was shot and wounded following a fight over a backpack at Seventh Avenue and West 47th Street, according to the police.
Adding fuel to the warm weather uptick in shootings, gun arrests were down about 17% last week and 30% over the 28-day period ending Sunday, compared to 2024, NYPD data shows.
Still, the springtime surge didn't spoil the city's overall decline in shootings so far this year, with gunplay down 12% in the first four months of the year, compared to 2024, the stats show.
There were 213 shootings in the first third of 2025, according to the latest overall figures updated Wednesday, on the last day of April.
Murders, specifically, were down by 24% this year so far, with 92 deaths, the data show.
The warm weather uptick comes after the NYPD touted a 23% plunge in shootings in the first quarter of 2025, ending in March.
If the Big Apple stays on this trajectory, New Yorkers could see the lowest number of shootings on record in nearly a decade — since 2018.
Subway crime also cratered below pre-pandemic levels during that period — a milestone that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch credited Thursday to a surge of cops in the system.
And in January and February, the city shattered a 30-year record for the fewest shootings in the first two months of the year.
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