New York City suffered through another violent night Tuesday into Wednesday, with four people shot and killed in less than three hours in four separate incidents.
Between 10:45 p.m. Tuesday and 1:10 a.m. Wednesday, gunfire rang out over and over again in the Bronx and Brooklyn, adding to the city's growing murder toll - down somewhat from last year but still the second highest in a decade.
The first murder happened in the Wakefield section of the Bronx; cops responded to a 911 call in the 600 block of East 234th Street and found a 31-year-old man with a gunshot wound. He died at Saint Barnabas.
Minutes later, in the 100 block of Thomas Boyland Street in Bed-Stuy, cops found a man, 29, shot in the leg. He died at Brookdale Hospital.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
Shortly after midnight, in the 200 block of Lincoln Avenue in the Cypress Hills section, a 911 caller reported a 24-year-old man shot in the torso. He died at Jamaica Hospital.
But there was one more fatality to come, just after 1 a.m. in the 2300 block of Grand Concourse. A 911 call led to Melquan Cooper, 34, who was shot in the torso. He also died at Saint Barnabas.
After a surge of violence earlier this year, newly elected Mayor Eric Adams launched a gun violence plan to get weapons off the street, including the return of controversial anti-crime units.
The numbers trended in the right direction in the following months - shooting incidents decreased, and murders continued to decline.
But in the last few weeks conditions have again deteriorated. Over the last four weeks, major crimes in New York City are up 33% versus the same period last year, including a 16% rise in murders.
