Murder rising at alarming rate, sending waves of fear throughout NYC's most dangerous neighborhoods

The number of people wounded or killed by gunfire is up citywide, sending waves of fear through some of New York's most dangerous neighborhoods.

NYPD statistics through the first nine months of the year show the number of murders has climbed 13.2% from the same period last year. There were 341 murders at this point last year compared with 386 through Sunday, according to the most recent data available.

Cops in the 75th Precinct in East New York, Brooklyn, have investigated 23 homicides this year - the most in the city.

Cyncerae Pough, 27, who lives in the neighborhood, is not surprised. "Every night all I hear is cop cars and ambulances," said Pough, the mother of a 6-year-old girl. "I don't come out of my house if I don't have to."

Bullets have been flying over the Bronx, too. There's been an 18.3% spike in the borough.

In the 47th Precinct, which sits in the northern section of the Bronx, the number of murders is up 46.2%: Nineteen people have been killed in that precinct this year, up from 13 during the first three-quarters of 2009.

"It's horrible," said Elena Rodrigues, 25, a stay-at-home mom in Eastchester. "Way too many people have guns these days. Some people just don't have no control."

The murder rate is up 25.9% in Queens, 12.2% in Manhattan and 7.4% in Brooklyn - the borough which sports some of the city's most crime-plagued neighborhoods.

Eighteen people have been murdered in Brooklyn's 67th Precinct, unnerving longtime East Flatbush residents.

"People are not working, there are no jobs, so people are out on the street," said Karen Brown, 48, a home health aide. "You aren't even secure when you're inside your own home."

The number of people shot citywide has gone up 4.5% from a year ago, jumping from 1,315 to 1,374.

The uptick in murders comes after a year in which the city recorded 466 - the fewest number of slayings since the NYPD began keeping track in 1963.

Though the overall crime rate is down 1.5% citywide, primarily due to a 6.2% drop in grand larceny, most felony categories are up.

Rapes have increased 13.5% citywide, including a disturbing 45.1% jump in Manhattan. There have been seven rapes in Central Park this year. During the first nine months of last year, no one reported being raped in Central Park.