The sun is out. The tourists are back. There are fewer masked faces. Yet, while New York City should be leading the nation in the economic recovery from Covid, the City That Never Sleeps is facing its own epidemic.
Shootings, rape, stabbings and general mayhem are running rampant throughout the Five Boroughs with authorities seemingly unable to do anything to stop it.
Latest official figures show murders citywide are up 12 percent from 189 at this time last year to 212 so far in 2021.
Rapes are up from 650 to 684 in the year to June 27. Felony assaults are up from 9,399 to 10,045.
The most dramatic crease is in gun violence, with incidents up 43 percent from 503 to 718 and those injured or killed up 36 percent from 606 to 826.
In just one week - from Wednesday, June 23 through Tuesday, June 29 - all five boroughs of New York City were plagued by chilling murders, drive-by shootings, nightly wildings in Washington Square Park and smaller random acts of violence.
Here DailyMail.com examines that week of murder and mayhem in the rotting Big Apple.
Felony assaults and murders in New York City have gone up this year compared to the same period in 2020, according to NYPD data
Crime has intensified in New York City as shootings, stabbings and rapes run rampant in the City That Never Sleeps
WEDNESDAY JUNE 23
9 am: On-duty MTA bus driver Ernesto Hernandez, 52, gets into a fight with Alejandro Noboa, 50, on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. Both men are arrested and Hernandez is suspended from his job. 2pm: A man dismounts a dirt bike and opens fire at an Acura SUV in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. A bullet passes through the open driver's-side window but the 25-year-old in the car is not hit. 8:15 pm: Psalms Ajayi, 31, is shot dead on Fulton Avenue in the Bronx. Neighbor Timmy Johnson, 30, is arrested for his murder. No reason is given for the shooting.
On Wednesday, June 23 a man dismounted a dirt bike and opened fire at an Acura SUV in the Wakefield section of the Bronx. A bullet passes through the open driver's-side window but the 25-year-old in the car is not hit
On June 24, a pair of elderly diners outside of Think Coffee on Bleeker Street in Lower Manhattan (file photo) were allegedly attacked by a homeless man who claimed they were being 'disrespectful for not giving him money'
NYPD released video of the wild shootout in the Bronx after a graduation party on June 25
On June 25, the New York Police Department investigated the scene after five people, including three teens, were injured after a shooting at a graduation party in the Bronx. The shooting happened after three males were denied entry to the graduation party
On June 25, Angel Caraballo, 19, is shot and killed in an apartment building in the beachside community of Rockaway in Queens on June 25. Security cameras catch Caraballo running down the stairs clutching his side before collapsing outside. He is taken to the hospital where he dies
THURSDAY JUNE 24
Noon: A 47-year-old homeless man assaults an elderly woman and her companion after telling them they were being 'disrespectful' for not giving him money as they sat outside Think Coffee on Bleecker Street in Lower Manhattan. The 75-year-old woman and 61-year-old man are not seriously hurt. 1:15 pm: An innocent bystander is caught in crossfire as she stands at the rear of a housing project in the Claremont Village section of the Bronx. The 27-year-old woman is taken to the hospital in stable condition.FRIDAY JUNE 25
1 am: Five people, including three teenagers, are wounded by gunfire in a drive-by shooting at a graduation party in the Bronx. The shooter was allegedly thrown out of the party in the Unionport section of the borough, by private security hired by parents to keep things safe. He returns and fires from the sunroof of a dark-colored sedan. 1 pm: Angel Caraballo, 19, is shot and killed in an apartment building in the beachside community of Rockaway in Queens. Security cameras catch Caraballo running down the stairs clutching his side before collapsing outside. He is taken to the hospital where he dies. 4 pm: A 50-year-old man is robbed in broad daylight in the Bronx. The suspect grabbed the man's necklace and ran off. As the victim ran after him the assailant takes out a gun and fires a single shot but misses. 9:10 pm: A man opens fire aiming several bullets into a crowd of people in the Fordham area of the Bronx. Two men are hit, one in the ankle and one in the thigh. 11 pm: Tayvon Turner, 28, from Brooklyn is arrested for threatening two Park Department employees with a wine bottle and a brick as revelry continued in Washington Square Park.
On Friday, June 25, a 50-year-old man was robbed in broad daylight in the Bronx. The suspect grabbed the man's necklace and ran off. As the victim ran after him the assailant took out a gun and fired a single shot but missed
On Saturday, June 26, a knife-wielding middle-aged man slashed another man in McCaffrey Park in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan. The attacker then fled eastward down 43rd Street
In Times Square on Sunday a 21-year-old U.S. Marine visiting the city from Upstate Northville, New York, with his family, was hit by a ricocheting bullet as a dispute between two CD sellers in Times Square allegedly erupted
SATURDAY JUNE 26
1: 40 pm: A knife-wielding middle-aged man slashes another man in McCaffrey Park in the Hell's Kitchen section of Manhattan. The attacker then flees eastward down 43rd Street. 5:20 pm: A 67-year-old woman walking up Lexington Avenue in Manhattan gets punched in the face and knocked to the ground for no reason by a man wearing a doo rag, sunglasses and a black shirt with a picture of a penguin on it.
Samuel Poulin is the Marine who was shot in the back in Times Square Sunday and is the newlywed son of former Pentagon official Col. Jack Jensen
SUNDAY JUNE 27
5:30 am: A 36-year-old man is stabbed seven times as two others try to steal the gold chain he is wearing. The assailants jump in a Honda Odyssey and drive off. The victim of the attack in the Corona area of Queens is taken to the hospital in critical condition. 5:15 pm: Marine Samuel Poulin is rushed to the hospital after being hit by a ricocheting bullet on 45 Street near Times Square. Two rival gangs of CD sellers are believed to have got into an argument and one man opened fire. 6:50 pm: Keyshawn Cureton, 21, is shot multiple times after getting into an argument on Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem. Despite being right outside Harlem Hospital, he cannot be saved. One man is arrested, a second is being sought. 7:15 pm: Police use pepper spray to disperse Pride Day participants who had taken over Washington Square Park. Later in the evening, food vendor Nader Hassaneen, 66, allegedly uses a gay slur after two women try to nickel and dime him on the price of a hot dog. He is attacked by revelers who throw hot sauce in his eyes and leave him bloodied. Eight people are arrested, including one woman accused of biting an NYPD lieutenant. 8:45pm: Eric Shields, 47, allegedly stabs Dylan Spinosa, 20, at the Staten Island Ferry. Spinosa is returning home from Pride Day festivities when he tells Shields to stop harassing women, saying 'Go home, you're drunk.' The two get into a fight. Shields, who has a long rap sheet, is charged with assault, weapons possession, menacing and harassment.
On June 27, Dylan Spinosa was stabbed at the Staten Island Ferry after after he told a man to stop harassing women because he was drunk. His right arm is in a sling, and his upper back is bandaged
On Sunday, June 27, Keyshawn Cureton, 21, was shot multiple times and killed after getting into an argument on Malcolm X Boulevard in Harlem. One man is arrested, a second is being sought. Both suspects are pictured
Nader Hassaneen, an Egyptian immigrant and retired street vendor, was attacked in Washington Square Park on Sunday night, receiving a smashed lip and bloody nose. He was seen bleeding from his head after being punched in the face several times by a woman
People could be seen tending to Hassaneen in the street following the beating late on Sunday night
MONDAY JUNE 28
1:20 am An argument about their respective places in a food cart line breaks out into violence in midtown Manhattan. After a group of tourists from San Jose, California, get their food and sit down to eat it, the man who had argued with them puts on a black sweatshirt and ski mask and strikes a 21-year-old man in the head with a baton. The tourist is treated in the hospital and released. 3:30 am A man returning home from Pride festivities on an Uptown subway is stabbed in the chest by a man who had been hurling homophobic slurs at him, because he had his legs crossed. As the train pulls into the W. 34th Street station, the men get out and continue fighting on the platform. 8:15 am: A man gets into a fight with an employee at Moon Deli on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The customer kicks off his shoes and attacks the employee. As the two brawl, he gets out a knife and slashes the 23-year-old deli worker about the back and neck, before running off. 6 pm: A 57-year-old postal worker delivering mail in Brooklyn is assaulted by two men who ride up to him from behind on dirt bikes. They punch him several times breaking bones in his face. 7
