According to NYPD data, the number of boys photographed in New York City has increased by 15% so far this year, a 114% increase compared to 2018 before 2018.
The number of teen shooters has dropped by 5% so far this year, but has risen dramatically since 2018.
At this point in 2018, there were 14 juvenile shooting victims in 2025 compared to 30 so far. There were 10 juvenile shooters each compared to 17 that year, data show.
This year’s teenage victims include 18-year-old Juan Jose Pena, hoping to join the Navy, who was shot at about 1:25am on Park Avenue near East 176th Avenue in the Bronx.
Since his death, his heartbroken mother has fled to the Dominican Republic with her remaining three children, his aunt Shelly Olivo told the Post.
“She doesn’t want to come back,” Olivo said. “She still has three children to look after. She doesn’t think they’re safe here.”
The 17-year-old was arrested and charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon to Pena’s death, police said. Officers were looking for two additional suspects, police said.
Pena, who had no criminal history, had texted his mother on the way home before he was cut, the family said.
“My nephew passed away 10 months ago and he did nothing wrong,” my aunt said. “The person who killed my nephew is still on the street and may run away by committing another crime while my sister is crying every day. I don’t think they’re doing enough.”
Oliva is wary of teenagers getting shot and carrying guns around, she said.
“When will this end?” she asked. “What are the elected officials doing? They don’t care what’s going on in the city. This is bad. It’s getting worse. We don’t have law and order anymore.”
For Mama Yannary Henriquez, the illness statistics bring the pain her 16-year-old honorary student daughter, Angelie Yambo, suffered when she was fatally shot in 2022 by 17-year-old Jeremiah Ryan of the Bronx.
“It’s a shame because it keeps happening every day,” she said in a post this week. “The elected officials should do more. This is amazing. It means more children die like my daughter.”
She wants to take her child with her, but she wants to stay near her daughter’s grave.
“I wish I could take my kids to another place, but I’m stuck here because my daughter is buried here,” she said. “I don’t want to stay in New York. My daughter and I were planning to move to Florida, but we’re stuck here, she’s buried here.”
She said kids today don’t respect the law.
“I’m worried about the kids going outside,” she said. “I’m always on the phone. It’s a constant battle. It’s something I have to live with for the rest of my life.”
Retired NYPD Youth Strategy Assistant Committee member Kevin O’Connor believes that adults are a major contributor to the increase in shootings among youth, and therefore raises the age laws that prevent courts from prosecuting suspects under the age of 18.
“NYC’s youth crime has only decreased by 4% compared to last year,” said the overall crime has fallen by 18%. “It’s basically flat, it’s all because it ‘ages up’. No one has been charged in the juvenile world. ”
The “age up” law requires minors caught with firearms to appear in family courts. Before the law changed, children, ages 16 and 17, were arrested in criminal court, many of whom were jailed on Riker Island.
Part of the problem is that the judges are not caught up in previous teen accusations, which has led to ramp-prolonged recidivism, O’Connor said.
“The judges can’t see previous history when the child is brought before them,” O’Connor said.
“You need to empower the judge to make full determination to the children before them that they can’t do now,” he said. “Then they can actually prevent this child from becoming a career criminal.”
