Metro

Year of the gun: 9 shot in NYC just hours into 2013

The New Year has started off with a bang.

Nine people have been shot since the city welcomed in 2013, police said.

Gunfire first erupted at around 2 a.m., when two people were hit with bullets in separate incidents.

In the first shooting, which happened on White Plains Road and Seward Avenue in the Bronx, a 32-year-old man was hit in the stomach and taken to Jacobi Hospital, cops said. He is in stable condition.

In the second report of gunplay, a 19-year-old boy was shot in the back on Irving Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn, cops added. He was rushed to Wyckoff Hospital in stable condition.

Then, at around 3 a.m. a 24-year-old man was popped in the buttocks after a fight broke out between a large group near Jerome Avenue and West Fordham Road in the Bronx, cops said.

He was taken to Columbia University Medical Center. The investigation is ongoing, though the victim has been uncooperative with detectives, cops added.

At 4:30 a.m., a man was shot in both legs at the Queensbridge Houses in Astoria, Queens, cops said. He was taken by private car to New York Hospital Queens and has non-life threatening injuries.

On Staten Island, a 42-year-old man was blasted in the stomach on Osgood Avenue at about 4:45 a.m., cops added. His brother picked him up, but he was later loaded into an ambulance and driven to Richmond University Medical Center, cops said. He is expected to live.

The victim was highly intoxicated and refused to help investigators, cops added.

About 5 a.m., a woman took a bullet to the arm on Webster Avenue, in the Butler Houses, in the Bronx, cops said. She was transported to Lincoln Hospital for treatment.

Just before 6 a.m., a man who had been shot in the stomach was dropped off at Kings County Hospital, cops added. He was in critical condition and expected to undergo emergency surgery. Investigators have yet to talk to the victim to ascertain details of the violence that left him wounded, cops said.

Finally, there were two shootings around 7 a.m. in different boroughs.

A man was shot on East 138th Street and Brook Avenue in the Bronx, cops said. He was brought to Lincoln Hospital and is listed in stable condition.

Also, a man was plugged in the stomach on Dumont Avenue in the Van Dyke Houses in Brownsville, cops said. He was taken to Brookdale Hospital and is expected to live.

Police also used their weapons today, with an officer squeezing off a single shot at a suspect near the Brownsville Houses in Brooklyn just before 2 a.m., cops said. No one was injured and further details were not immediately available.

The spike in gun violence comes as the city just recorded its lowest number of shooting incidents ever.

As of Dec. 30, there were 1,372 shootings citywide in 2012 – a marked drop from the 1,420 incidents notched in 2009, which was the previous record low since the NYPD began keeping a tally in 1994.

Additional reporting by Kirstan Conley