Published January 02. 2021 10:57PM | Updated January 03. 2021 1:29AM
Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News
NEW YORK — New York City endured a 2020 crime surge straight out of hell: a 97% jump in shootings and a nearly 45% surge in murders as COVID-19 ravaged the city.
The NYPD released the sobering preliminary year-end stats Friday, eager to turn the page on a tally that recorded more shootings from mid-May through mid-September than in all of 2019, a soul-crushing surge that never let up — with 1,868 people hit by bullets.
When the ball fell in Times Square, the NYPD had responded to 1,531 shooting incidents across the five boroughs, 754 more than in all of 2019, officials said. The NYPD Detective Bureau investigated 462 killings around the city — 143 more than the year before.