Youth shootings soar in 5 years

The number of teenage victims and shooters in the Big Apple has tripled in recent years with New Yorkers under 18 now accounting for an ever greater share of the bloodshed on city streets, an alarming new police memo reveals.

The findings are part of a three-page data analysis prepared by the NYPD that was recently distributed to other law-enforcement agencies around the city. A copy of the document was obtained by The Post.

It reveals that 12.7% of identified shooters were younger than age 18 during the first eight months of 2022, a significant jump from the same time period in 2017, when 9.2% of shooters were identified as teenagers.

The share of teenagers injured or killed in shootings has also exploded over the five-year period. Teens represented 10.9% of shooting victims in 2022, the analysis found — nearly double the 5.7% rate reported in 2017.

Minors have become far more likely to be the victims or suspected perpetrators of a shooting as gun violence surged across the city amid the coronavirus pandemic.

There were 111 teenage shooting victims over the first eight months of 2022, which is nearly triple the 36 victims over the same time period in 2017.

The increase outpaces the overall rise in gun violence, which has nearly doubled in 2022 when compared to 2017.

All told, police have recorded 992 shootings with 1,206 victims so far this year.

“It is crystal clear we are failing our kids,” said Richard Aborn, president of the nonprofit advocacy group Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, which has helped craft policing policy for decades.

The figures, he said, bolster the findings outlined in alarming new research that shows the average age children first pick up an illegal gun has dropped from an average of 16 or 17 to just 12 or 13 years old.

“We need to get ahead of it. It is a national trend, but that doesn’t mitigate it,” said Aborn, advising that provide parents and counselors with resources to better spot early signs of violence.