It has just been revealed that shootings in New York City have increased by 205% in the weeks since NYPD disbanded its anti-crime unit of plainclothes cops on June 15.

During the last two weeks of June, there were three times as many shootings in New York City as there were during the same period in 2019, according to the New York Post. Between June 15 and July 2, there were 116 shootings in the Big Apple compared to just 38 during the same two-week period last year. A total of 157 New Yorkers were injured in gunfire this year, compared to just 57 being injured in that period in 2019.

The NYPD also said that last month was the deadliest and most violent June in 24 years, as there were a total of 205 shooting incidents over the entire month. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is already trying to blame the violence on the COVID-19 pandemic, ignoring the fact that his own actions in dismantling the police are likely a huge factor in this. “This is directly related to coronavirus,” de Blasio said on Monday, according to Fox News. “This is a very serious situation. … As we’re getting into warmer and warmer weather, we’re feeling the effects of people being cooped up for months, the economy hasn’t restarted — we have a real problem here.”

Hazel Thomas, whose son was gunned down on June 17, spoke out to blame the uptick in violence on the NYPD disbanding its “anti-crime” unit of plainclothes officers. “I feel like we are giving the streets back to the criminals,” she said. “They shouldn’t have disbanded it. Whatever the problem they have, address it. But don’t disband the unit. Many lives would have been saved. Not just my son.”

“Without having this tool, it will be much harder to tackle rising felony crimes, ‘shots fired’ jobs and the growing number of illegal guns pouring into the neighborhoods,” added NYPD Sgt. Joseph Imperatrice, a former anti-crime unit supervisor and founder of Blue Lives Matter.