The number of young people shot in New York City has risen by 15% this year so far and, according to NYPD data, has risen by 15% this year and has risen 67% compared to pre-pandemic 2018.
The number of teen shooters fell by 5% this year compared to the latter, but since 2018 a dramatic 114% has risen.
At this point in 2018 there were 14 youth shooting victims compared to 30 so far in 2025. 10 Juvenile shooters were compared with 18 in those years, respectively, the data showed until April 20.
The teenager victims so far this year are Juan Jose Pena, an 18-year-old who hoped to come to the Navy who was shot at Park Avenue near East 176th Street in the Bronx around 1:25 am 2 February, the police said.
Since his death, his deeply sad mother has taken her three remaining children and fled to the Dominican Republic, his aunt Sery Olivo told The Post.
“She doesn’t want to come back,” said Olivo. “She still has three children to take care of. She doesn’t think they are safe here.”
A 17-year-old was arrested and accused of murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in Pena’s death, the police said. Police officers hunt for two extra suspects, the police said.
Pena, who had no criminal history, had just sent his mother, he was on his way home before he was felled, the family said.
“My cousin died 10 months ago and he did nothing wrong,” said the aunt. “The person who killed my cousin is still on the street, maybe a different crime and getting away with it while my sister cries every day. I don’t think they are doing enough.”
Oliva is alerted about the number of teenagers being shot and can be fed in the city, she said.
“When will this end?” she asked. “What do the chosen officials do? Do they not care about what is going on in the city. This is bad … It gets worse. We no longer have law and order.”
Mother Yanely Henriquez brings back the sick statistics the pain she suffered when her 16-year-old honorary daughter, Angellyh Yambo, was deadly shot in the Bronx in 2022 by 17-year-old Jeremiah Ryan.
“It’s a shame because it will continue to happen every day,” she told the post this week. “The chosen officials should do more. This is alarming. It means that more children will die just like my daughter.”
She would like to take her children and leave, but she wants to stay close to her daughter’s grave.
“I wish I could take my children and could go somewhere else, but because my daughter is buried here, I am stuck here,” she said. “I don’t want to stay in New York. My daughter and I would move to Florida, but we’re stuck here, she’s buried here.”
She said that children do not respect the law today.
“I am worried when my children go outside,” she said. “I always call … it’s a constant struggle. That is something I have to live with for the rest of my life.”
Retired NYPD assistant commissioner of youth strategies Kevin O’Connor believes that age legislation will be increased that prevents courts under the age of 18 to charge adults if adults make an important contribution to the increase in shooting in young people.
“Youth crime in NYC only falls 4% compared to last year,” while total crime has fallen by 18%, he said. “It’s actually flat. It is all because of ‘raising age’. Nobody is being prosecuted in the youth world.”
The “Raise the Age” Act requires minors caught with firearms appear in Family Court. Before the law changed, 16 and 17 year olds were lived in the Criminal Court and many of them came to the prison on Rikers Island.
Part of the problem is that judges are not assigned to the earlier charges of a teenager, which led to unbridled recidivism, O’Connor said.
“The judges cannot see earlier history when a child is brought to them,” said O’Connor.
“You must enable the judge to take a complete determination about the child for them, what they cannot do now,” he said. “Then they cannot prevent this child from becoming a career criminal.”
