After a relatively peaceful summer, violent crime remained fairly low in Brooklyn in September, according to the latest NYPD statistics. Between Sept. 2-29, major felonies dropped by about 2% across the borough compared to the same period last year.
However, pockets of violence and several major incidents broke through the overall decline. Reports of major felonies rose in 11 of Brooklyn’s 12 police precincts, compared to last year, with sporadic spikes in assault, grand larceny auto, murder, and rape.
In terms of gun violence, this summer was one of the safest in recent Brooklyn history — gun-related homicides and shooting incidents were down 24% and 11%, respectively, between June and August. The trend continued in the Brooklyn South patrol, where no homicides were reported between Sept. 2-29 and shootings were down more than 50% compared to last year.
But while shooting incidents remained down in Brooklyn North, homicide jumped by more than 16%. On Labor Day, five people were shot, one fatally, at the West Indian Parade in Crown Heights. Just days later, 47-year-old Freddie Weston was shot in the head and killed in a Bed-Stuy subway station.
On Sept. 15, a man was fatally stabbed after an argument in the street on Nostrand Avenue in Bed-Stuy, while a mysterious mass shooting left six men wounded in Greenpoint on Sept. 21.
September also saw a number of nonfatal violent incidents outside local high schools, starting on Sept. 9, when a 15-year-old boy was stabbed after an apparent argument outside the Prospect Heights High School complex. On Sept. 24, a 15-year-old was shot during dismissal outside a Flatlands high school — just a days before an unrelated incident left two teens wounded outside I.S. 068 in Canarsie.
Police were involved in several shooting incidents in Brooklyn this month – on Sept. 13, officers opened fire on a man considered a person of interest in several homicides who allegedly charged them with a knife while they executed a search warrant in Flatbush.
Two days later, officers chasing down a man who allegedly skipped the fare at the Sutter Avenue subway station in Brownsville shot the suspect, two civilians, and one of the responding officers after the suspect allegedly lunged at one of the cops with a knife. The incident left the suspect and one of the bystanders in critical condition.
Between Sept. 2-29, felony assault, which can include physical attacks as well as nonfatal shootings and stabbings, rose in 13 precincts across Brooklyn — seven in the Brooklyn South patrol and six in Brooklyn North, though only Brooklyn South reported an overall increase in reported assaults.
The rise was most dramatic in the 61st Precinct, which includes Gravesend, Sheepshead Bay, and Manhattan Beach, where assault increased 128.6%, from 14 to 32.
In Brooklyn North, rape rose a dramatic 33.3% compared to the same period last year — 30 rapes were reported across six precincts in the patrol, including four in Bushwick’s 83rd Precinct, five in East New York’s 75th Precinct, and four in Brownsville’s 73rd. Reports of other sex crimes dropped in Brooklyn North in September — though the inverse was true in Brooklyn South, where rape dropped compared to the same period last year and other sex crimes increased.
Across the borough, robbery, burglary, and grand larceny were down. Grand larceny auto remained stubbornly high, though, as more than 350 vehicles were reported stolen between Sept. 2-29.
