Cops working overtime to get menacing guns off the street said Monday that they are disturbed by a frustrating trend — the shooters are getting younger, and so are the victims.
Even with violent crime subsiding, more weapons being seized and more felons being arrested on gun charges, NYPD officials say the deadly youth component is totally unacceptable.
“Our victims are young victims,” said NYPD Chief of Crime Control Strategies Michael Lipetri, noting that this year has seen about 62 shooting victims under age 18, while 14% of those arrested for shootings were younger than 18.
“Youth violence is a concern. We are focused on reducing the victims,” he added.
Lipetri said the youth trend has coincided with the three-year spate in violence across the five boroughs, a surge that was concurrent with the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
“Since 2020, we’ve seen increases that we’ve never seen before,” said the chief. “So from 2020 to present, it’s [the] most youth-involved shootings that we’ve seen.”
Lipetri joined some of the Police Department’s top brass at a news conference where officials showed an array of illegal guns recently seized by brave street cops.
The dangerous weapons ranged from automatic weapons to ghost guns built in basements with parts acquired through the mail.
Some of those same guns — bagged, tagged and marked as evidence — were pointed by, and at, boys and girls who have yet to attend a high school prom or a Sweet 16 party.
“One shooting victim is one too many,” Acting Police Commissioner Edward Caban said at the news conference, held at NYPD Headquarters. “When a child is shot right in a car or playing in a park, we understand the perception or fear that creates.”
Caban’s comments came after a weekend of violent attacks during which a 12-year-old girl was struck in the shoulder by a stray bullet on a Bronx street.
Two days before that, 5-year-old Zamayia Miles was shot in the back as she sat in her father’s car near…
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