NYC murder rate soars by 27% and gang violence rises 52% in 2020 as the Big Apple is rocked by crime wave

New York City's murder rate has soared by 27 percent and gang violence has risen by more than 50 percent in 2020 as the Big Apple continues to be rocked by a growing crime wave. 

Harrowing new NYPD data published in the 2020 Mayor’s Management Report Thursday night revealed a staggering 352 New Yorkers were murdered in the 2020 fiscal year - an extra 74 deaths compared to 2019.  

The biggest crime spike was for gang-motivated incidents which skyrocketed 52 percent compared to the previous year. 

While the report from City Hall attributes this particular surge to the NYPD 'improving its capacity to more accurately identify incidents as gang related', the findings come at a time when drive-by shootings and gun crime are becoming increasingly commonplace across the city.  

Overall, the rate of major felony crimes ticked up slightly by 1 percent compared to the previous year. 

New York City's murder rate has soared by 27 percent and gang violence rocketed by more than 50 percent in 2020. Pictured NYPD cops at a crime scene on September 5 where people were killed in a shooting during J'ouvert festivities in Brooklyn

The rate of burglaries in the Big Apple also increased by 20 percent and grand larceny of autos by 30 percent.  

There was some good news, with other major felonies declining between the two years.

Forcible rape decreased by 17 percent, grand larceny fell by 8 percent and DWI arrests were down by 33 percent. 

Meanwhile, narcotics arrests declined by 36.7 percent due to a clampdown on 'higher level organized distributors' in the city, according to the report. 

Crime also fell in the city's schools, with major felonies down by 35 percent and other criminal categories down by 36 percent compared to 2019. 

However this is likely to be linked to schools shuttering back in mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic.   

Juvenile arrests for major felonies also increased by 54 percent - something the mayor's report put down to the phasing in of the Raise the Age law. 

Harrowing new NYPD data published in the 2020 Mayor’s Management Report Thursday night reveals a staggering 352 New Yorkers were murdered in the 2020 fiscal year. Pictured Mayor Bill de Blasio whose office released the report

NYC CRIME IN FISCAL YEAR 2020 COMPARED TO FISCAL YEAR 2019

The law ruled that 16-year-olds were classed as juveniles in the criminal justice system from October 1 2018 and 17-year-olds from October 1 2019. 

The 2019 report only covered nine months where 16-year-olds were included whereas the 2020 data covered a full year of both 16- and 17-year-olds in the figures.  

The report praised the NYPD for remaining 'operational at all levels' during the pandemic, despite what it described as 'significant hardships'. 

'The Department continued to address criminal activity, threats of terrorism in New York City, manage traffic control, and ensure the safety of motorists, pedestrians and cyclists, as well as provide a safe environment for New Yorkers utilizing medical facilities and patronizing essential service establishments,' the report stated.  

The report doesn't provide specific data on shootings.

NYC has been rocked by a surge in gun violence in recent months, with a staggering 1,095 shootings in the Big Apple since the start of 2020, according to separate NYPD data. 

This marks an uptick of 93.1 percent compared to the 567 shootings that took place by the same time last year.  

Last Thursday, 17-year-old Kether Werts was shot dead in the Crotona neighborhood of the Bronx. 

Meanwhile, on September 8, a gunman opened fire inside a Bronx Deli, shooting multiple times through the front window at a group of people outside who returned fire.

The biggest crime spike was for gang-motivated incidents which skyrocketed 52 percent compared to the previous year. NYPD officers respond to a crime in the city

Last Thursday, 17-year-old Kether Werts was shot dead in the Crotona neighborhood of the Bronx

One of the youngest victims of the wave of shootings was 1-year-old baby Davell Gardner who was killed when gunfire rung out at a family gathering in Brooklyn on July 14. 

The spate of violence has sparked fears the Big Apple is headed back to the dark days of the 70s and 80s when crime and poverty was rife.

Tensions have been building between Bill de Blasio and the NYPD after the mayor cut $1 billion from the NYPD's $6 billion budget in June.

The cuts came as calls to ‘defund’ the police grew from Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the Memorial Day 'murder' of black man George Floyd in Minneapolis, when shocking footage then circulated on social media of NYPD cops violently attacking protesters gathered to demand an end to police brutality and racism.  

In one video in early June a police cruiser was seen deliberately ramming into a group of protesters in Brooklyn.

Another showed a cop pulling his handgun and pointing it at peaceful protesters in Manhattan.