‘We have to break cycle’ of escalating violence, says expert

Shootings continue to rise in the city, and the cloud of gun smoke blanketing the five boroughs won’t part until the brutal cycle of gang violence is finally cracked, experts say. “The shootings we are seeing are mostly gang shootings, which means they’re fueled by retribution,” said Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, a nonprofit group that studies public safety and criminal justice. “One shooting begets another shooting begets another shooting. “We have to break the cycle,” Aborn said. “The surge in gun violence is the second-biggest threat to public health in this city after COVID.”

After suffering through a 97% surge of shootings last year, cops are already combating a 44% jump in gunplay this year, according to NYPD statistics. Murders across the city are also up, by nearly 14%, cops said.

As of Friday, 260 people have been wounded in 231 shootings — and spring has just begun.

This time last year, there were 71 fewer shootings — 160 incidents in which 181 people were hit by bullets, police data show.

Most of the rampant violence is being sparked by street crews and gangs, authorities said.

Those wounded are either gang or crew members, or were innocent bystanders hit when two crews opened fire on each other in the middle of the street, police explained.

Police Commissioner Dermot Shea blamed bail reforms enacted in early 2020 for the surge, although advocates of the reform disputed the belief, saying there is no evidence linking bail reform and the city’s crime increase.

Aborn said that by the end of 2019, the NYPD had reduced crime and was beginning to establish trust in neighborhoods of color. But the new bail reforms created a perception that people can carry weapons without any consequences, he said. Within weeks, cops were seizing a record number of guns from city streets.

“With the reforms, we began to send a message that there isn’t much of a risk associated with committing a crime with a gun,” Aborn explained. “This government really needs to be sending a precise narrative that says, ‘Yes we are going to do reforms, but that’s not a license to carry a gun.’”