A 16-year-old boy was arrested Tuesday in connection with the fatal shooting of a woman in the Bronx, continuing a surge in minors being charged for gun violence, even as shootings decline citywide.
More teenagers have been arrested for fatal shootings this year than any other age group, according to police data analyzed by Gothamist. The suspect in Reyna Caceres’ murder near a Bronx park last week is at least the 18th teen to be arrested for a gun homicide since January, while police have so far arrested at least 10 people over the age of 20 in connection with similar offenses.
At least 27 teens were arrested in connection with fatal shootings through all of 2025, compared to 51 people over the age of 20. And with the city just starting summer, when violence typically surges, this year's numbers are likely to surpass those from last year.
Public safety experts said it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what is causing more young people to participate in shootings. Some have argued that the state’s Raise the Age law, which diverts younger teens to family court, has contributed to a lack of deterrence for 16 and 17-year-olds who are caught with guns, since those cases don’t often result in jail time.
“ I would argue it's good for the kid with a gun to be punished mildly so they stop doing it, as opposed to getting them for murder when they’re 18,” Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice who specializes in crime prevention and policing, said in an interview earlier this year.
In the latest case, NYPD officials said they took the teen into custody in the same precinct where 23-year-old Caceres died after being shot in the left eye just after midnight on May 28. The suspect is being charged with murder, aggravated manslaughter, criminal weapons possession and reckless endangerment.
Police have not identified him because he is a minor, and information for his attorney was not immediately available.
The gunfire erupted outside the Aqueduct Lands Playground near West 181st Street in University Heights on May 28. Local reports and video from the scene showed evidence of a gathering at the location before the shots rang out, and police were still working to determine whether Caceres or another person was the intended target. The NYPD on Wednesday said the incident was still under investigation.
New York City officials continue to tout historic lows in shootings and homicides this year. The latest numbers, released this week, show murders down more than 20% and shootings down more than 5% through the month of May. But the number of young people charged or identified in connection with shootings still remains higher than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic, NYPD data shows.
Eleven of the teens arrested so far this year were under the age of 18 – a group that is perpetrating more gun violence even as the number of minors who actually get shot has declined. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and Mayor Zohran Mamdani said youth violence rose last year as a share of total violent crime, with both victims and perpetrators under 18 reaching their highest percentages in 2025 since tracking began in 2018.
The NYPD implemented Youth Safety Zones at the start of the 2025 school year to focus additional officers on high-risk areas such as bus stops and commuting routes. Since then, shooting incidents in the deployment areas are down more than 60%, according to the department.
