The February Report -- 31 murders in second month of 2008...

Thirty-one people were murdered in New York City in February 2008, bringing the total number of murders in the city this year to 67.

(As always, these are unofficial statistics. These are the murders I calculated by reading the city's newspaper every day. It's possible some murders are added or dropped from the official police stats. According to official NYPD stats, the number of murders in the city between January 1 and February 24th totals 61. That compares unfavorably with last year when there were only 52 murders in the same period, meaning -- according to the NYPD -- the murder rate this year is up 17.3% through February 24th.)

The murder that galvanized the city's attention in February was the slashing death of Upper East Side therapist Dr. Kathryn Faughey, a white 56-year-old female, murdered by mental patient David Tarloff. The murder was Page One news for more than a week whereas most of the other murders for the month -- which involved black and Latino men shot and stabbed to death in the city's outlying boroughs -- barely registered in the city's newspapers. Many of those murders got no more than a brief mention.

There were a few other murders that generated some attention: the strangulation of 14-year-old Anna Matias allegedly at the hands of her mentally ill father; the stabbing of transgendered Talib Stewart allegedly by a "friend;" the shooting of ex-cop and suspected wife abuser Ray Sheehan by his wife; the shooting of 17-year-old Tim Kim by a disgruntled customer in a Bronx shoe store; and the stabbing death of Tina Negron in a Key Food store by an ex-boyfriend who initially escaped. Interestingly, all of these people were killed by someone known to them.

Of the seven women murdered in February, four knew their attackers and three did not.

Here's how the monthly statistics break down:

RACE: 9 of the victims were black, 8 were Hispanic, 5 were white, and 1 was Asian. (I only categorized those I was certain of.)

BY BOROUGH: 12 murders occurred in the Bronx, 7 in Queens, 6 in Manhattan, 6 in Brooklyn, and 0 in Staten Island.

METHOD OF DEATH: 15 were shot, 8 were stabbed, 3 were beaten, 3 were killed by vehicles, and 1 was strangled. (The others were unknown pending an autopsy)

AGE: 11 of the departed were in their 20s (for the second month in a row the most dangerous age group), 6 were in their 40s, 3 were in their 30s, 3 were in their 50s, 3 were teenagers, 1 male was in his 70s, and an 84 year-old woman was killed by a hit & run driver.

It's clear from the year thus far that the most likely murder victims are black or Latino males who are in their 20s and living in the Bronx or Queens. The most likely method of death by far is at the end of a gun.

Comments

[Georgia NeSmith]

Ok, Mr. LaRosa, given that you are conscious of the fact that the majority of murders in NYC during this period were black or latino, can you explain to me why about 99.9 percent of the victims on 48 Hours Mystery are white?

The phenomenon you observed in February in NYC is even more pronounced throughout the rest of the country. Blacks are SEVEN TIMES more likely to become homicide victims than whites. And yet, to my recollection (I could have missed one or two), 48 Hours Mystery has featured only ONE black female victim and one Asian woman.

From watching 48 Hours Mystery you would think that all homicides are about white spouses or boyfriends/girlfriends killing each other, or hiring someone else to do the deed.

I have to wonder what is it about the filtering process determining which stories you will feature that produces this result.