The continuing surge in youth violence in the Big Apple showed no signs of slowing down Monday, with at least two more youths attacked overnight in five boroughs.
Hours after a 15-year-old boy was beaten and stabbed in Brooklyn, a 16-year-old boy was slashed at a subway station in the Bronx just after 11:30 p.m. Sunday, police officials said. Teen violence plagues the city despite reporting on the trend.
“Young offenders are the most violent. Gang members know they're not going to prison,” said Robert Holden, Queens Borough Council Public Safety Committee member. “They should be treated like adults. The state legislature and the governor are asleep with the switch on.
“It's going to get worse before it gets better.”
In the most recent incident, the young victim was getting off the 5 train at the Pelham Parkway subway station at 11:35 p.m. when he made eye contact with another straphanger. This made the assailant uncomfortable and he slashed the victim's arm, killing him. According to officials, they boarded a train and left.
The injured boy, who was “uncooperative” with officers, was treated at Jacobi Hospital Medical Center in the Bronx for non-life-threatening injuries, but his assailant remains at large.
Just after midnight Sunday, another teen was attacked while taking out the trash at the Coney Island House on Surf Avenue in Brooklyn, officials said.
Officials said the 15-year-old boy was approached by an unknown man, punched him in the stomach and stabbed him before fleeing, and the victim was taken to Coney Island Hospital for treatment.
According to police sources, the teenage victim has been arrested six times in the past, and his attacker remains at large.
The incident comes at a time when more young people have become victims or suspects of crimes in recent years, leading to an alarming rise in teen violence due to lax state laws that handcuff officers. It happened inside.
Critics cite “age raising” laws that raise the age of criminal responsibility to 18, filling the city's two juvenile facilities with older and more violent residents. Before this law, 16-year-old suspects were automatically charged with violent crimes in adult court.
“Kids as young as 9 years old are being recruited by gangs, and we have to stop it,” said Queens Borough Councilor Joan Arriola, a member of the Public Safety Committee. “We have a city under siege, like Fagin's gang, who are terrorizing our city.
“The governor and the Legislature made a mistake. Public safety is at risk,” she said. “These defendants have now been referred to family court and released.”
Among the disturbing busts highlighted by the Post were a 14-year-old boy who has been arrested nearly 20 times in less than two years and a 12-year-old boy who has been arrested six times as a result of the state law.
The young suspect was arrested on Nov. 9 after officers spotted him riding a moped with a gun, which he later used in two other attempted assaults in the Big Apple. It was determined that it was used in the incident, officials said.
Twelve percent of gun busts this year involved suspects under the age of 18, said Michael Ripetri, head of the NYPD's crime prevention strategies.
LiPetri said the department estimates that one in four youths arrested with a gun will be involved in a gun-related crime as a suspect, witness or victim.
In the most recent incident, a 15-year-old boy was shot and wounded at the 4th station at 167th Street and River Avenue in the Bronx just after 10 p.m. Saturday, police said.
Officials said officers had earlier spotted a group of people looking to shoot and followed them into the precinct, only to hear gunshots before they arrived, leading to widespread violence.
Police tracked the suspects to the railroad tracks and arrested two people, including the gunman, David Ayenengoe, 20. He is currently charged with attempted murder for causing bodily harm to the boy.
One law enforcement official said, “These laws do not prevent juveniles from committing crimes; they only increase the criminal capacity of juveniles.” “Very quickly they develop into violent adult offenders, and that's when the community really suffers.”
