NYC logs fewest shootings and murders on record through October, but subway crime jumped 12.7% last month

New York City had fewer shootings and murders in the first 10 months of 2026 than in the same stretch of any year on record, the NYPD said Monday, Nov. 9, though October itself showed a small uptick in gun violence and a sharper rise in subway crime.

The year so far

• Shooting incidents: 536, down 10.4% from the previous record low of 598 set in 2025.
• Shooting victims: 649, down 13% from 746 in 2025. The department said 939 fewer people have been shot than in the same period of 2021.
• Murders: 230, down 15.7% from 273 last year and below the previous record low of 244 set in 2017. Brooklyn's 61 murders are a record low for the borough.
• Major crime: down 6.5% (96,059 vs. 102,726), which the NYPD called the largest year-to-date reduction in 17 years. It fell in all five boroughs, led by the Bronx at 11.3%.
• Other categories: burglary fell 14.2%, robbery 12.3%, auto theft 11.2%, grand larceny 6.1% and retail theft 12.2%. Rape rose 1.8% and felony assault 0.9%.

What went up in October

Compared with October 2025, which had itself set records, shooting incidents rose from 45 to 47 and shooting victims from 52 to 55, amNewYork reported. The NYPD said October's total was still the second-lowest for the month on record. Felony assaults rose 3.1% (2,536 vs. 2,459). Murders fell to 19 from 20, and overall major crime dropped 8.6%.

Underground, major transit crime rose 12.7% in October (195 vs. 173) and is up 2.2% for the year (1,825 vs. 1,786), NY1 and the NYPD reported. The department said felony assaults and nonviolent grand larcenies drive most transit crime, and that thefts of unattended items rose 17%. Assaults on police officers and MTA employees made up nearly a third of transit felony assaults this year. Even so, the NYPD said 2026 is the second-safest year in the transit system in 15 years, excluding the pandemic.

Public housing and hate crimes

In NYCHA developments, shooting incidents fell 34.5% (78 vs. 119), murders 28% (18 vs. 25) and robberies 18%, all record lows for the period. There were no shooting incidents in Bronx public housing in October. Citywide, hate crimes are up 15.2% this year, and more than half are anti-Jewish, amNewYork reported.

"Those extraordinary results are only possible because the members of the NYPD continue to execute on our data-driven strategy," Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in the release, crediting gun seizures and gang takedowns. The department says it has seized more than 4,500 illegal guns this year.