Violence near New York schools escalates into shooting and stabbing

Violence erupts in and around city schools, with shootings, stabbings and murders on the rise.

Three students were killed and at least 18 were stabbed or shot to death in the 2022-23 school year, experts said, as gang warfare and increasingly young armed children take advantage of the state’s juvenile justice reforms.

In the previous school year, one child was reportedly killed and eight were shot or stabbed.

A layoff could spell death for New York schoolchildren, as most stabbings and gunfights unfold after the afternoon bell.

“We have really witnessed this cavalcade of chaos that has come down on us because of bad laws and young people who are out of touch with responsible behavior,” said Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon.

Shatima Watson, 34, knew how dangerous things got.

She tried to convince her brother Nyheem Wright and his twin brother Raheem, who were attending Brooklyn’s Liberation Diploma Plus High School, to move with her to Georgia from Coney Island to be safer.

She was late.

On January 20, six assailants pursued Wright during his dismissal and fatally stabbed him half a mile from his school and across the street from PS 329 in what police believe was a fight over a girl. The quarrel started earlier in the day and may have been caused by a previous fight between two female students.

“We just really wanted to grab them and show them the new way of life,” Watson, 34, told The Post this week.

In November, 18-year-old Mark Green was gunned down at a bus stop half a block from North Queens Community High School in Kew Gardens Hills in what police suspect was a gang clash.

In another gang-related tragedy, 15-year-old Unique Smith was gunned down on Sept. 7 in a park in downtown Brooklyn just after finishing class at the Brooklyn Lab Charter School, about four blocks away.

Last school year, 16-year-old Angellich Yambo was killed by a stray bullet from a suspected gunman just a block from the Preparatory Charter School while walking home from class in the Bronx.

Police said 17-year-old Jeremy Ryan was charged with murder after he opened fire on rival gang members with a ghost pistol. Two other children were also injured in the incident.

“Most school shootings do have a gang element,” according to a police source, who noted that “most of the controversy has to do with drill rap fueled by social media.”

Law enforcement is suffering because of Albany’s lax laws against dangerous minors, authorities say.

New York’s age-raising law means that children under 18 can no longer be tried as adults in criminal court for most offenses, making it nearly impossible for young people to be prosecuted when they commit serious crimes, said McMahon, who lamented: “They received a message that it is safe to carry and use weapons.”

Fellow Democrat Melinda Katz, District Attorney of Queens, echoed Raise the Age’s call for reform.

“Just as there is no doubt that reform is long overdue, it is clear that these reforms have had unintended consequences that threaten public safety and require urgent action,” a spokesman for Katz said.

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Authorities claim that violent kids and gangs are well aware of this loophole.

“Older gang members, intending to commit a bad deed, use minors to hold a gun. Because if he or she gets caught, there will be no consequences,” a source told Raise the Age. “No one in their right mind with half a heart wants any minor to be arrested… But there are some kids – some – who need to be taken off the streets for the safety of the community.”

Ten percent of the city’s shooting victims are now minors, a police source said. And the number of firearm arrests among those aged 18 and under jumped to 448 in 2022, up 64% from 275 in 2017.

Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens’ Commission on Crime, which helps make NYPD policy, said the age at which teens first took up arms was 16 or 17.

“Now there will be 13 or 14, if not 12, so you have guns permeating youth culture and you also see guns on social media,” Aborn said.

Charmaine Patterson, a school nurse who works alternately at high schools in the Bronx and Manhattan, said she sees students trapped in a world of gangs and violence.

“They talk about knowing things but they can’t say anything because then they will get hurt, or their family, little sister or little brother will get hurt,” Patterson said. “Sometimes they come to the nurse’s office just to sit. They’ll say it’s a headache or a stomach ache, but you know it’s more than that, and there will be so many of them that they won’t be able to say what they want to say.”

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A school security agent who works in Brooklyn and has more than 20 years of experience is witnessing an increase in violence.

“I don’t want to sit back and sugarcoat it. Crime is definitely on the rise and getting worse,” she said.

The children have become smarter by hiding their gang affiliations and guns at school, she said.

“So the only time you’ll know they’re really in a gang is when the kids start talking,” she said. And they’re hiding [a gun or knife] go outside or leave early to get it,” she added.

However, NYPD figures show that a huge amount of guns are still making their way into schools.

This school year, until January 8, the police confiscated 2,984 weapons, including 8 pistols, 168 stun guns and stun guns, and 1,192 knives.

The count could eventually equal the count of 6,389 weapons for the entire school year in 2021-2022, including 21 weapons. That number has nearly tripled from the 2,137 weapons discovered in 2018-2019, the last full year before the pandemic disrupted the education system.

The NYPD has permanent weapon scanners in 80 schools and seven more deployed on a rotational basis. Hundreds of schools don’t have them.

The number of school security agents has also been reduced. The NYPD has 4,116 agents, 115 short of the authorized number and down from 5,500 in 2018. The department said the recruitment of 250 people should begin in April.

NYPD data also shows that 56 school security agents or police officers were injured due to student misconduct from July 1 to December 31, 2022, 20 of whom were sent to the hospital.
There is no end in sight to the violence: just last week in Brooklyn, four children and a school security agent were shot dead in separate incidents.

In the first half of 2022-2023, police made 155 arrests of students in schools – for incidents that occurred both inside and outside schools – including 40 charges of assault, 13 for possession of a weapon, seven for gang assault and three for rape. according to the NYPD.

The NYPD has stepped up its presence in schools, and the Education Policy Commission just approved a $43 million contract to install new locking systems in every school. But the move is meant to keep violent intruders out — and does nothing to combat aggressive students within school walls.

“Student safety is a priority for the NYPD and we regularly monitor and evaluate crime rates in and around schools. In response to recent incidents, the area superintendent or executive director will be meeting weekly with school principals to discuss important issues,” the NYPD said.

Jackie Rowe-Adams, leader of the anti-violence group Harlem Mothers SAVE, said that parents should pay more attention to their children and that “you can’t blame the police and the mayor alone. … Now everyone will have to step up because this is very serious.”

Supplementary report by Mary Kay Linge

SCHOOL VIOLENCE, IN NUMBERS

3: students killed this school year
1: students killed in the last school year
11: students injured by gunfire this year
4: Students injured in last year’s shootout
7: students were stabbed this year
4: Students were stabbed last year
56: School security agents and police officers injured at work due to student misconduct
20: Cops and agents rushed to hospital
155: Student arrests on school grounds this school year
40: assault arrests
13: weapon arrests
7: arrests of gang attacks
3: arrests for rape
2984: Weapons confiscated from schools from 1 July to 8 January.
8: weapons seized
168: stun gun and stun guns seized
1192: knives seized
346: Criminal offenses in schools in the 2021-22 school year
85: criminal offenses in 2020-2021
$15: Hourly pay for a burger flipper at McDonald’s.
$16.74: Hourly pay for a school security guard.

Sources: NYPD, Mayor’s Leadership Report.