Shootings in Brooklyn South buck citywide trend and spike for the year

Detectives at a scene in East New York where 9 people were shot, and one killed at an apparent house party.


















Guns are blazing in Southern Brooklyn, NYPD statistics show.

The traditionally less-violent Brooklyn South patrol borough - comprised of 13 police precincts - is the only command in the city to report a spike in shootings so far this year.

There were 103 shootings in Brooklyn South - especially in neighborhoods such as East Flatbush, Crown Heights and Coney Island - up from 82 at this time last year.

Of the Brooklyn South precincts, the 67th Precinct in East Flatbush experienced a 54.5% increase, one of the biggest surges in the city.

There have been 34 shootings in the 67th so far this year - up from 22 at this time last year, according to NYPD numbers.

"The 67 is one of the most active [precincts] so it's almost a paradox: The more they are active, the more there is crime," said Father Howard Williams, pastor of St. Augustine's Episcopal Church on Avenue D in East Flatbush.

"Most of [the shootings] are drug related and there's no logic when it comes to drugs."

The rise in gun violence in the 67th Precinct comes as shootings citywide are down, particularly in troubled areas like the Bronx and upper Manhattan.

Some neighborhoods in traditionally violent Brooklyn North also bucked the citywide shooting decline.

In Bedford-Stuyvesant's 79th Precinct, there have been 29 shootings so far this year, 10 more than at this point in 2010.

"It seems whenever it gets hot it sparks," said MTA worker and Bed-Stuy resident Jason Robinson, 28, who blamed the gunfire on young people.

Neighbor Angel Melendez, 30, said he's aware of four separate shootings since moving from Williamsburg in April.

"It's been very scary moving from a neighborhood with no shootouts like that to an area with multiple shootouts at once," said Melendez, who works at a consulting firm.

"You can't even go to the store to buy a gallon of milk without worrying about being shot."

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said it's difficult to know why some areas see spikes in violence but cautioned that "peaks and valleys tend to flatten out over time.

"We add resources, including additional officers, to address shooting spikes," he said.

There were 33 people shot citywide from last Friday night to Monday morning, according to Browne, including eight who were shot in one incident early Saturday morning in East New York.