The 24-hour corner stores known as 'bodegas' that proved a 'lifeline' for New Yorkers during the pandemic have been hit by a violent crime wave that has left six people dead.
The small convenience stores that initially popped up in Hispanic neighborhoods following the Second World War have become ubiquitous in the city, with an estimated 20,000 across five boroughs.
When supermarkets ran out of hand sanitizer and basic supplies, New Yorkers turned to their local bodegas, where shop-keepers often know them by name.
But new police figures have shown a worrying rise in crime in the first eight months of the pandemic, with a 63 percent increase in shooting incidents inside or in front of bodegas and corner stores, a 222 percent rise in burglaries, and a 10 percent spike in robberies, according to The New York Times.
Six people have been killed in or just outside the stores, according to the data.
In October shocking surveillance video captured the moment a brawl broke out in a Bronx bodega, with two of the men wielding machetes.
Footage of the altercation was released by the United Bodegas of America Association as they begged New York City mayor Bill de Blasio to take action against soaring rates of crime.
The Association also released footage of a shooting in another Bronx bodega on September 8 where a hooded gunman opens fires through the window at a group standing outside the store - sending a bodega cat bolting for the exit.
Surveillance video shows a violent encounter inside a bodega in the Bronx where two young men were chased into the store by other men with a machete on October 4. The video was released by a coalition of bodega owners, The United Bodegas of America
New York police released this video on Monday showing a gunman opening fire in a Bronx deli on September 8, with bullets piercing bags of chips and shattering glass, sending a startled bodega cat scampering to safety
Fernando Mateo, one of the founders of the United Bodegas of America, an organization that represents about 20,000 bodegas in New York, said the pandemic had provided cover for a small number of criminals to target neighborhood stores, most of which are owned by immigrants.
'Some are taking advantage that everyone is wearing masks to commit crimes,' Mr. Mateo said.
He said the bodegas are struggling to stay afloat by selling inexpensive items like chips, beer and milk, with tiny profit margins sometimes measured in pennies. 'When they are robbed, they are robbed of real dollars,' he said.
A handful of bodega owners have added safety measures, such as panic buttons, brighter lights and special locks.
But Mr. Mateo said the majority of bodega operators cannot afford the added security, which can cost thousands of dollars.
The rise in violence comes as the city, which is currently experiencing a second wave of the novel coronavirus, undergoes a repeated rise of the gun-crime seen during the summer.
Shootings have doubled since last year with 115 in November; a 112 per cent jump compared to 2019.
Gun-crime is at its worst in 14-years after already surpassing its previous high of 1,427 shootings in 2006.
In the latest string of violent incidents, on Monday, a 76-year-old nursing home patient was hit by a stray bullet while he was sleeping in a nursing home in Corona, Queens, according to the New York Post.
Police said the man woke up bleeding from the right side of his neck and was rushed to a nearby hospital. He was treated and then discharged.
Investigators weren't sure what the cause of the injury was until Monday night, when a nursing home employee pulled up the blinds and noticed a bullet hole in the window.
On Sunday alone, 11 people across the five boroughs were shot - one fatally.
According to the New York Post, a 32-year-old man, whose name was not released was shot in the head just before 3:30pm on Sunday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the spike in violent crime this year was due to pandemic whereas New York Police Department commissioner, Dermot Shea, blames the state's new bail reform measure.
In November alone, there have been a total of 115 shootings - a 112 per cent jump compared to the same time last year. November also saw 28 murders - a 38 per cent rise compared to November 2019. Police vehicles are seen above near the scene of a shooting in The Bronx on Friday
Police officers search a playground for evidence at a crime scene where two individuals were injured by gunshots on Atlantic Avenue on July 18
Police stand at the scene of a shooting which happened as Save Our Streets was holding a peace march in response to a surge in shootings in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn on July 16
A local lights a candle at a memorial for 25-year-old Priscilla Vasquez, a mother of three who was shot in the head around 5am in the Bronx, on August 23
New York Police Commissioner Dermot Shea says that the city is on pace to set a 14-year record for most incidents of gun violence in a single year
New York's top cop Shea told NY1: 'We have made staggering numbers of gun arrests, taking guns off the streets from felons, doing it almost always without a shot being fired.'
Shea added: 'But when you look three days later, four days later, those individuals are back on the street committing more gun violence.'
Shea claimed that progressive policies that encourage criminal justice reform are making the city more dangerous.
'Until we come to that realization as a society — is this what we want?' he said.
'It's good to have philosophical discussions about 'end mass incarceration' and 'end incarceration' but you don't want to do it by turning the innocent public into jails in their own apartments and houses.'
Shea's boss, Mayor Bill de Blasio, pushed back on the commissioner's comments.
The mayor told reporters at his City Hall briefing on Tuesday morning that the surge in violent crime this year can be pinned on an 'absolute perfect storm' that hit New York this year.
The latest NYPD statistics indicate a spike in the number of murders in 2020 compared to 2019
Burglaries are also on the rise in the five boroughs, according to the NYPD
As of Sunday, there were a reported 1,433 shootings in the five boroughs this year — a whopping 698 more than the 735 reported at this time last year
Police data also shows that the number of shooting incidents in 2020 is outpacing that of last year
NYPD statistics also show an uptick in the number of car thefts compared to last year
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