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The Week in Crime: Spotlight on Brownsville

Overall, crime is down in Brownsville, but there has been a slight increase boroughwide.
Screenshot 2021-03-05 at 14.31.18
Brownsville’s 73rd Precinct. Photo: Google Maps.

Overall, crime is down in Brownsville, but there has been a slight increase boroughwide.

There has been an 40.6% reduction in crime reported to Brownsville's 73rd Precinct during the week Feb. 22 to Feb. 28, compared to the same period last year.

There have been 19 incidents reported, including rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto. During the same two-week period last year, there were 32 incidents reported, including four rapes, nine robberies and 13 felony assaults. There has been one murder and 11 rapes reported this year in the neighborhood, compared to four murders and eight rapes by this time last year.

Looking at the 28-day cycle, there has been a 30.7% reduction in incident reports this year on last.

The most common incident reported this year is felony assault, with 72 reports in the neighborhood, seven less than during the same period last year.

Last week, the 73rd Precinct tweeted two photographs of illegal firearms it's public safety teams had recovered while making arrests.

Across Brooklyn:

Across the borough, there have been 469 incidents reported between Feb. 22 and Feb. 28, according to NYPD's CompStat, including one murder and two rapes in Brooklyn South, and five rapes in North Brooklyn. There were 71 robberies reported across Brooklyn and 114 felony assaults.

Between Feb. 22 and Feb. 28, Brooklyn North reported a 100% increase in burglaries on the same period last year, and a 61.5% increase on incidents of grand larceny auto. Overall, crime in North Brooklyn increased by 10.6% on last year during the two-week period. In South Brooklyn, reports of felony assault increased by 56.5% on last year, and reports of grand larceny auto increased by 82.4%. However, crime in the area was down overall by 6.1% during the two-week period.

In the headlines:

Commander of East New York's 75th Precinct Inspector John Mastronardi will be transferred from his high-ranking position to a less high-profile spot in the Chief of Detectives' office after facing backlash from the local community. Local residents have complained that Mastronardi acts divisively and aggressively, and he was heavily criticized for his handling of an April 2020 fight with local residents over mask wearing that was caught on video.

Kevin Gavin, 66, has been indicted for allegedly murdering three elderly women who lived in NYCHA's Carter G. Woodson Houses in Brownsville. The handyman lived in the same building as Myrtle McKinney, 82, Jacolia James, 83, and Juanita Caballero, 78, who were killed in their apartments between 2015 and 2021. Gavin allegedly strangled or stabbed the women for money he claimed they owed him for doing odd jobs.

A FDNY paramedic was badly bitten on the face by a teenage girl in Brooklyn on Friday, while she attempted to care for her. The girl was suffering from an "altered mental state" when the incident occurred. The first responder, who had chunks of flesh bitten off, was treated at NYU-Langone, along with the teenager who had ingested drugs prior to the incident.

NYPD released surveillance images of a person connected to the murder of a man who was trying to defend a robbery victim in Brooklyn. Yong Zheng was stabbed to death with a screwdriver on Feb. 26 when went to the aid of someone who had been robbed by a group of men in Sunset Park. The wanted man was wearing a grey hoodie with a smiley face on the front and a large X emblazoned on the back.

BK Reader's crime tracker has the latest information and statistics on crime and policing in the borough.




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