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Murders, Shootings On Track To Set Another Record Low In NYC

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York City was on track for another year with the fewest murders and shootings in recorded history.

The Mayor's office said through Sunday, Dec. 29, the city had recorded 333 murders, compared with 419 in 2012 – <a title="New York City On Pace For Lowest Murder Rate In 50 Years a year which also set a record low.

The city had seen 1,100 shootings as of Monday, compared with the likewise record-setting 1,374 in 2012.

Murders committed with firearms represented 194 of the 333 murders so far in 2013 – a total of 58.3 percent.

NYPD officials have credited initiatives targeting gangs and domestic violence with reducing murders across the five boroughs.

But the strategies that have dropped crime to record lows haven't taken hold everywhere. In the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville, the cycle of violence, silence and retribution seems entrenched.

Crime went down 9 percent in Brownsville during the past decade. Statistics showed felony assaults are up and the number of shootings the same.

Community activists said a major police presence can't make up for better schools, more jobs and better housing.

A burst of gunfire this past summer typified the frustrating cycle. A baby boy was struck in the head by a stray bullet and killed as he sat in his stroller.

Antiq Hennis, 16 months, was being pushed by his father when he was killed on Sept. 1. His father, Anthony Hennis, refused to cooperate with investigators in the case, but police later arrested and charged Daquan Breland, 23, and Daquan Wright, 19, with Antiq's murder.

Murders hit a record high in 1990, when the city recorded a total of 2,245 homicides. The record has gone unsurpassed by anything other than the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Among the highest-profile murders in 1990 was the stabbing that killed Utah tourist Brian Watkins, 22, who was stabbed to death in a robbery by a group of teens at the Seventh Avenue-53rd Street B, D and E Train station as he headed to Greenwich Village from the U.S. Open.

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