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By: Ilana Siyance
Here’s another troubling statistic for 2024. So far this year, murders on the New York City subway system have jumped 60 percent, as reported by the NY Post. Eight people were murdered on subway cars or in stations as of Sept. 8, up from just five during the same time frame in 2023, as per NYPD data. The troubling rate is coming close to the 25-year high set in 2022— when there were 10 murders. From 1997 to 2020, there were never more than five murders in the subway in a single year, per NYPD data.
“It’s not a safe environment to be waiting for the train,” said Jakeba Dockery, 42, whose husband, Richard Henderson, 45, a beloved crossing guard, was fatally shot in January on a No. 3 train in Brooklyn, after he tried to break up a dispute between straphangers which began over loud music. “It just feels evil,” Dockery told The Post. She added that she and her daughter no longer take the NYC subways. “I don’t do the MTA,” Dockery said. “Between the anger [of violent straphangers], the mentally ill, I can’t.”
The latest subway murder tragically took place on Sept. 5, a little after 11 p.m., when a gunman shot and killed grocer Freddie Weston, 47, near the MetroCard booth at the Rockaway Avenue station in Brooklyn, as per police sources. The victim’s sister lamented to the Post that he may still be alive if there had been cameras near the station’s ticketing area. “They took the opportunity because there wasn’t [any] camera,” said Tina Weston.
The startling increase in murders comes despite several high-profile initiatives undertaken to mitigate the surge in subway crime seen early this year. Stations with heavy-traffic saw an influx of 750 extra National Guardsman. Also, an extra 1,000 NYPD officers were deployed to monitor the subway system, the Post reported.
Overall, other crimes on subways have actually dropped. Per the Post, total subway crime fell close to 6% this year, compared with the same time frame in 2023. In the first half of 2024, robberies are down roughly 18%, and felony assaults dropping nearly 5%, a NYPD spokesperson said. “This overall crime reduction is due in large part to thorough investigations by detectives into every major crime within the subway, and the proactive work of officers deployed in the transit system,” the spokesperson said.
“This year alone, those very officers removed 43 guns (compared to 28 last year) and 1,536 knives (compared to 1,004 last year) from the subway system, the highest weapons seizure rates in the last decade.”
Still, violent crimes remain well above pre-pandemic levels. Commuters expressed their unease about taking subways. “You don’t know if you’re going to make it home,” said retiree Vickie Reeves, 68, who barely ever likes to take the subway. “There’s a lot of mental illness and it’s painful to your heart that you don’t know who you come in contact with, if they’re going to push you in front of the train.”
