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 NEW YORK (AP) - Gangs, drugs, easy access to guns and a disturbing tendency among young people to pull guns to demand respect were among the causes authorities cited in trying to explain this year's increase in murders in New York and many other major cities after years of decline.
The number of murders reached its highest levels in a decade or more in some places, but some big cities, including Los Angeles, reported drops in the number of murders.
New York reported 579 homicides through Dec. 24 — a nearly 10 percent increase from the year before. The spike mostly reflects an unusually large number of "reclassified homicides," or those involving victims who were shot or stabbed years ago but did not die until this year. Thirty-five such deaths have been added to this year's toll, compared with an annual average of about a dozen.
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