© Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/TNSA DSNY vehicle plows snow during a heavy snowstorm in Brooklyn, New York City on Monday, February 1, 2021.
NEW YORK - The massive snowstorm that pelted New York City wasn't enough to tamp down surging gun violence, with six people shot, including a woman struck by a stray bullet that came through her apartment wall, police said Tuesday.
All six victims shot Monday are expected to survive. Four of them were struck while outdoors in the snow.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea bemoaned the bloodshed during an interview on PIX11.
"Would you be surprised if I told you in New York City yesterday during a blizzard we had six separate shooting incidents?" Shea asked. "It's astounding."
In the stray-bullet shooting, a 26-year-old woman was wounded in the arm inside her kitchen on Washington Avenue near E. 180th Street in Belmont about 10:30 p.m. Monday when a slug blasted through the wall, police said.
Medics rushed her to St. Barnabas Hospital.
Investigators followed the trajectory of the bullet to the next apartment, where they found two teens inside with the handgun. Cops believe they were playing around with the firearm when it went off.
Police charged the 16-year-old boy who lives in the apartment with assault, weapon possession, criminal use of a firearm and reckless endangerment. His name wasn't released because of his age.
A friend visiting the teen, 18-year-old Marco Cintron, was arrested for weapon possession because he had the .22-caliber Ruger when cops showed up to investigate, authorities said.
As nearly 20 inches of snow started to blanket the city in what would become the biggest snowstorm to hit the five boroughs in five years, the bloodshed began about 1:30 a.m. when a 28-year-old man was shot in the hip on W. 47th Street near Eighth Avenue in Midtown, cops said.
A few minutes later, a 25-year-old man was shot in the right leg on E. 102nd Street near the FDR Drive in East Harlem.
The violence picked back up about 12:45 p.m. when a 16-year-old boy was shot twice in the back at the height of the storm during a street clash with two men on Seward Avenue near Croes Place in the Soundview section of the Bronx, police said.
About 7:30 p.m., a 32-year-old man was shot in the back inside an apartment on Ocean Bay and Beach Channel Drive near Beach 54th Street in the Rockaways in Queens.
The bloodshed finally concluded at 9 p.m. when a 41-year-old man was shot in the right calf on Osborne Street near Pitkin Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn, police said.
Only one shooting was reported to police on Feb. 1, 2020, officials said.
"I don't think the problem is getting guns off the street," Shea said. "I think the problem is getting people who carry guns off the street. We're making more gun arrests than we ever have, but until we have real discussions and real follow through on consequences, we are going to have a tough road."
With the new year only a month old, cops have seen a 23% jump in shootings so far in 2021 compared with this point last year. As of Monday, police were investigating 83 shootings this year compared with 67 during the same time frame last year.