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Read the press release here.

Bloomberg to Begin Releasing Weekly Murders and Shooting Updates

 From left to right, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Mayor Michael Bloomber, and Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo at a press conference after Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled the city police department's stop-and-frisk poceedures unconstitutional on August 12, 2013.
From left to right, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, Mayor Michael Bloomber, and Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo at a press conference after Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled the city police department's stop-and-frisk poceedures unconstitutional on August 12, 2013.
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DNAinfo/Colby Hamilton

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office sent out the first of what is promised to be a weekly update on murders and shootings in the city, in effort to highlight the continued decrease in violent crime since 2012's record low, a spokesman said Tuesday.

"We’ve been talking about the issue every week, so we decided to make it a formal, weekly distribution," Marc LaVorgna said.

According to the mayor’s office, the 213 murders as of Aug. 26, 2013 represented a 26.6 percent drop from the same time last year, when 290 murders had already occurred.

Out of all this year's murders, 58 percent were committed using a firearm. However, according to the Mayor’s office, the number of gun-related murders is also down from last year, from 175 at this point in 2012 to 123, a nearly 30 percent decrease overall.

Additionally, the number of shootings overall is down by 26 percent from the same time last year, according to the mayor’s office, from 957 in 2012 to 708 so far in 2013.