#At least six shot – one fatally – in NYC early Sunday: NYPD

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Police at the scene of one of the shootings this weekend
Christopher Sadowski

At least six people were injured early Sunday in the alarming escalation of shootings across the Big Apple — including a 23-year-old who died in Queens, according to police.

The latest early-hours shooting spree capped a week with at least 38 shootings so far leaving more than 50 people injured — easily more than double the 16 shootings for the same time last year, sources told The Post.

The unidentified murder victim was shot in the chest at around 3:30 a.m. on 40th Avenue in Long Island City on the edge of the Queensbridge Houses, the NYPD said.

He was taken to Weill Cornell Hospital but was pronounced dead, the force said.

The deadly attack was one of at least four shootings reported in the early hours of Sunday — including two that left double victims, the NYPD said.

One of those was also in Queens, where a 22-year-old man was hit in the shoulder while a 24-year-old man was hit in both the shoulder and the buttocks at 1:10 a.m. on Corona Avenue and 90th Street in Elmhurst.

Both were taken to Elmhurst hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

A 23-year-old man was taken into custody for the double shooting, police said, with no additional information immediately available.

Later, two people were shot on University Avenue in Morris Heights in the Bronx just after 4 a.m., police said, with a 51-year-old man shot in the left hand and a 48-year-old man hit in the right leg.

Both were taken to St. Barnabas Hospital but refused to help investigators, police said.

A little later, a 29-year-old was shot twice in the buttocks just before 4:30 a.m. on West 137 Street in Harlem, the NYPD said.

The “highly uncooperative” victim was taken to Harlem Hospital, police said, with his condition not immediately known.

The spree is the latest sign of escalating gun crime problem in the Big Apple, where the number of shootings has already topped the tally for the whole of last year.

While there were again more than double the gun attacks last week than for the same time period last year, at least one statistic was better — with just five fatalities compared to eight from the week in 2019, sources said.

Still, the escalation has put increased pressure on Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has offered only a vague plan to combat the problem and changed his mind over what is to blame for the worrying escalation.