NYPD makes scheduling changes after 10 deaths during violent weekend

NYPD, shootings, deaths,

News 12 Staff

Aug 24, 2020, 7:23 PM

Updated 1,508 days ago

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New York City is recovering from yet another violent and deadly weekend. 
Over the weekend, the NYPD says 10 people were killed and that nine of those lives were lost to gun violence. The NYPD says that is a 900% increase in homicides from the same three days last year. 
According to the NYPD, 35 shootings happened between Friday and Sunday. They say during the same three days last year, there were only nine shootings. 
Police say one of the victims from this past weekend, 25-year-old Priscilla Vasquez, was a mother of three. They say her killer remains on the run and was captured on surveillance video firing rounds on a Bronx street Saturday morning.
Police say one of those bullets hit Vasquez in the head on East 152nd Street. Police say the suspect they are searching for fled in a dark Chevy Traverse with Pennsylvania license plates. They say the suspect hit something while fleeing, so damage can be seen to the back and passenger side of the vehicle. 
On Monday, NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced scheduling changes aimed at keeping more officers staffed on the weekends. Shea also praised his officers on Twitter for taking 75 guns off the street last week and making 23 arrests--closing three homicide cases in the process. 
Mayor Bill de Blasio defended the decision to disband the anti-crime unit, despite the surge in violence.