WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Shootings have seen a sharp rise Uptown in the first half of 2015 compared to the same time last year amid a citywide surge, statistics show.
Both the 33rd and the 34th Precincts saw an increase in the number of shooting incidents between Jan. 1 and June 14 of this year compared to the same period in 2014.
The 33rd Precinct — which covers Washington Heights, between 155th and 179th streets — has seen six shootings so far this year, compared to zero during the first six months of last year, according to NYPD data.
In one incident in March, three plainclothes officers were following a suspicious vehicle on West 172nd Street when they witnessed the passenger open fire on a man on the street, striking him once in the leg.
The officers arrested both the driver and the shooter and charged them with attempted murder, according to the NYPD.
In May, a 21-year-old man was shot in the arm while he was parked on West 177th Street, police said.
Despite the increase, the precinct had no murders so far this year, which was the same for the first half of 2014.
The 34th Precinct, which covers northern Manhattan from 179th Street to the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, has seen a similar increase.
There were four shooting incidents in the precinct between Jan. 1 and June 14, 2015, compared to two incidents during the same period in 2014, according to NYPD data.
However, several of this year's shooting incidents wounded multiple victims, bringing the number of shooting victims this year to seven compared to two for the same time period last year, statistics show. The data does not show which of the shootings were fatal and which are not.
On May 23, a 22-year-old man shot three men on 207th Street near 10th Avenue after they assaulted him, police said.
The man was arrested and charged with attempted murder, while two of the shooting victims were charged with gang assault, records showed.
On May 10, two men were shot outside of Tette nightclub on Post Avenue, leaving one victim dead and the other seriously injured, police said. An investigation is ongoing.
Shootings in the 34th Precinct are down for the most recent 28-day period, with zero this year compared to two for the same time period in 2014.
The number of shooting victims is up 10 percent citywide so far this year compared to the same time period in 2014, statistics show.
