Homicides and shootings are up in New York City this year, NYPD officials announced Monday, and authorities say many of them are related to marijuana deals.
NYPD brass announced that there have been 54 homicides in New York City in 2015 compared with 45 through the same time period the year before. The stats include 18 homicides in February alone, up 50 percent from 12 shootings in 2014.
Police say two-thirds of the shootings in the city are either gang- or drug-related. Police said that many of those shootings have revolved around pot.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said despite the increase, the number of homicides is among the lowest in the city in 20 years. Crime overall in the city also hit its lowest rate ever through February.
"This is not the bad old days roaring back," Bratton said. "This is something we've got our arms around."
Nearly 75 percent of the homicides in the city this year included the use of a gun, police said. That uptick is part of a larger increase of gun crimes in the city; shootings are up in nearly every part of the city.
The NYPD's announcement comes just weeks after the city had a record-breaking 11 days without a homicide in early February.
