The overall rate of violent crimes in Brooklyn dropped during the month of April, per the latest NYPD crime statistics, though incidences of rape and grand larceny auto ticked up across the borough.
According to the most recently-available statistics, between April 1-28, the year-over-year rate of major felonies – murder, rape, burglary, felony assault, robbery, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto — dropped by 1.73% in the Brooklyn South patrol and 8.23% in Brooklyn North. A total of 2,285 major crimes were reported across the borough during that span, compared to 2,408 in 2023.
Some stats stood in contrast to the overall decline in violent crime, though. Rapes increased by 66.7% in Brooklyn South, from 12 incidents in 2023 to 20 in 2024; and by 37.5% in Brooklyn North, from 16 to 22. The number of assaults also climbed 5.2% in Brooklyn South, but dropped by 8.2% in Brooklyn North.
Between April 1-28, the rate of homicides remained flat at five in Brooklyn North and dropped by 16.7% in Brooklyn South — but murder is up by 9.5% year-to-date in Brooklyn North, with 23 murders reported so far this year compared to 21 during the same period in 2021.
Despite Brooklyn South’s steadily-dropping homicide rate, Bay Ridgeites grew concerned after a 37-year-old man was stabbed to death outside a Third Avenue bar in the neighborhood’s first homicide of the year.
Two people, meanwhile, were shot and killed in East Flatbush’s 67th Precinct within just a week — 40-year-old Anthony Lancaster died after he was shot three times on the early morning of April 20, and an unidentified 24-year-old was killed in a hail of bullets on the night of April 27.
In Brooklyn North, a 45-year-old man died on April 18 after he walked into Brookdale University Hospital with a gunshot wound. The victim, Oliver Gamaliel, was reportedly shot outside an East New York convenience store, and was dropped off at the hospital by an unknown group of men. On April 23, an unidentified 26-year-old man was fatally shot outside of a Crown Heights apartment building.
Despite the uptick in homicides, both patrol districts reported a significant drop in shooting incidents, per NYPD data.
Grand larceny auto — a common problem in Brooklyn that appeared to be slowly coming under control earlier this year — rose by 3.4% in Brooklyn South, and the patrol has reported a 10.4% increase in GLA year-to-date, with 619 cars reported stolen. In Brooklyn North, the rate of GLA remained flat compared to last year, with 126 cars stolen between April 1-28.
Transit crimes, however, dropped by 10% in Brooklyn South and 42.3% in Brooklyn South.
Traffic-related deaths, however, increased by 200% in Brooklyn North, with three deaths reported compared to just one during the same period last year. While traffic deaths in Brooklyn South decreased by 20%, from five to four, they have risen by more than 14% year-to-date.
An 87-year-old woman, Joan Behan, was killed in Gravesend on April 10 when a car left in gear rolled backward and hit her in the sidewalk. Only seven days later, a truck driver fatally struck 10-year-old Yitty Wertzberger in a Williamsburg crosswalk.
