8 shootings in NYC during massive snowstorm 'out of ordinary,' says top cop

NEW YORK - The NYPD Commissioner says six shootings on Monday and two shootings on Tuesday while a massive snowstorm pummeled the city was "out of the ordinary."

"I don't think the public generally understands what we are up against here on the law enforcement side," Dermot Shea told FOX 5 NY morning program, 'Good Day New York.'

New York City saw more than a foot of snow and blizzard-like conditions during the two-day storm, but that did not stop gun violence which has been on the rise since last year.

"In a storm like that everyone kind of hunkers down and watches a movie or stays off the street. That was out of the ordinary," said Shea.

In one of the shootings, a woman was reportedly struck by a stray bullet that crashed through her apartment wall in the Bronx Tuesday.

"We are trending in a direction...we have work to do. That's the best way to put it,' said Shea.

Four of the victims were shot while outdoors in the snow, reported the NY Daily News. All the victims from Monday's shootings were expected to recover. The conditions of those shot Tuesday were not clear.

"New York State has some of the toughest gun laws in the country: mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years-- at least in theory. Rright now, we have thousands of open cases on gun arrests. That statistic pertains exactly to people caught in 2020 when we had an uptick. That's who is doing the shootings, make no mistake about it," said Shea.

The NYPD has seen a 23% jump in shootings so far in 2021 compared with the same time period last year, reported the Daily News.