#NYPD commissioner claims NYC gunplay finally declining — even as 9 more people shot

Nine people were shot — one fatally — across the city Sunday and Monday, cops said.

The latest incident came when a 27-year-old man was blasted in the stomach behind a building on Wortman Avenue near Hemlock Street in East New York around 1:20 a.m. Monday, police said.

He was rushed to Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, cops said.

The circumstances of the shooting were not immediately known, and the victim’s name has not been released pending family notification.

About a half-hour earlier, a 30-year-old man was struck in the back of the head during a drive-by shooting on West 33rd Street, on the grounds of Brooklyn’s Gravesend Houses, police sources said.

The victim was sitting in the back seat of his friend’s double-parked car when someone pulled up next to him and fired two rounds, according to the sources.

He went to Coney Island Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Investigators found the suspect’s unoccupied car, a gray Ford Escape with a stolen Washington state license plate, the sources said. The suspect remains at large.

Around 11 p.m. Sunday, a 43-year-old man was shot in the torso at 165th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Washington Heights, cops said.

The victim, who was struck once on the left calf and once on the right hip, simply told police he was walking when he heard shots and felt pain, according to police sources.

He was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

About two hours earlier, a 31-year-old man was shot once on his right big toe on Reeds Mill Lane in the Eastchester neighborhood of the Bronx, police sources said.

He was taken by private means to Jacobi Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Bullets also flew into two unoccupied parked cars, according to the sources. Investigators found two bullet fragments and seven shell casings.

Overall on Sunday, seven people were shot in four separate incidents across the city. Saturday saw only three people shot in three separate incidents.

No one was killed either day.

In an NY1 interview Monday morning, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said the city — recently plagued by rampant gun violence — is beginning to see a turnaround.

“When you look at June, July we had weeks approaching 70 shooting incidents,” the top cop said. “We came in with 28 [last] week. We still have a long way to go. But in terms of getting individuals off the streets that are carrying guns, that’s our total focus right now.”

The main factor, he said, is allocating extra cops “in the areas we need them the most.”

“And I think you’re seeing a little wakening up in different parts of the court system,” he added.

“There’s still a long way to go. But that has absolutely helped us in mid-August when we got those grand juries — not to the extent we need, but to a small extent — open again and getting that court process going.”

He also acknowledged that the recent fall-like weather might play a role.

“We could forecast long-term trends in crime with the weather at times,” the top cop said. “Certainly there’s a lot going on, but as it gets cooler and you get less people outside and less outdoor events and drinking and things of that nature, it certainly is an ally of ours.”