Summer has not officially started yet, and murders and shootings are already on the rise. Mayor Bill de Blasio is starting to feel the heat, and he says gang violence is mostly to blame. NY1's Grace Rauh filed the following report.
Tabloid headlines are meant to grab New Yorkers' attention, and these certainly do: Murders are up by a dramatic 60 percent, according to the most recent week-to-date comparisons.
The New York Post says you are 45 percent more likely to be murdered in Bill de Blasio's Manhattan.
"That's sensationalist, and that's just fear-mongering," de Blasio said.
A more expansive look at the city's crime numbers also shows an increase in murders. There have been 123 this year as of Sunday. There were 107 during the same period last year. That's a 15 percent jump.
Shootings are also up. There have been 403 so far, compared with 375 during the same period last year.
"I worry all the time about keeping people safe in this city. It's part of the job," de Blasio said. "But I also have confidence. The NYPD is constantly innovating."
The mayor faced several questions about crime during a press conference about education on Staten Island. He said the increase in shootings and murders are largely driven by gang activity, and that makes it different.
"What we have primarily here is a gang and crew problem," de Blasio said. "For those of us who were here in the bad old days, when we had 2,000 murders or more a year, a lot of everyday citizens were getting caught in the crossfire. It was a horrible, horrible time. This is equally troubling when individual gang members shoot other gang members, but it's a different reality."
The mayor said he did not know why violent gang activity is on the rise locally, but he suggested it was part of a national trend. He said officials would be working to shut it down.
The mayor is also coming under pressure to add more officers to the department. For the second year in a row, the City Council is demanding that he add 1,000 more officers to the NYPD. It's an issue that is part of budget negotiations. A final budget deal is due by the end of June.