In A First, NYC Forms DNA Gun Crimes Unit

NEW YORK CITY — New York City will better use DNA as a weapon against a plague of gun violence gripping the city, officials said.

Mayor Eric Adams announced the creation of a DNA Gun Crimes unit Thursday — a day after a senseless shooting on the Upper East Side that left a young mother dead.

The $2.5 million unit within the Office of the City Medical Examiner will hire and train 24 forensic scientists dedicated to testing and analyzing evidence from gun crimes throughout the five boroughs, he said.

"The first time in the nation you'll see something of this magnitude," he said.

The DNA gun crime unit is only the latest in Adams' efforts to curb gun violence, an issue that has consumed much of his mayoralty.

Adams has revived controversial NYPD anti-crime units, appointed a "gun violence czar" and railed against a recent Supreme Court decision he argued could make it easier to carry a gun in the city.

On Wednesday, he announced a lawsuit against manufacturers of "ghost guns" that are .sold in parts to New Yorkers and built into firearms.

The DNA gun crime unit speed up the city's 90-day turnaround time for samples, said Chief Medical Examiner Jason Graham.

“With this new, dedicated unit exclusively dealing with gun crimes — the first of its kind in the country — we will achieve a 30-day turnaround time for gun crimes cases and be the fastest of any large municipal laboratory in the nation,” he said.

Doing so will give victims, family members and communities answers faster, as well as speed up exoneration or conviction, Graham said.

Council Member Keith Powers, whose district borders Wednesday's shooting, said the unit will answer an important question he hears from New Yorkers concerned about the rise in gun violence: "What is next?"

“This is an announcement that I hope is not going to fly under the radar,” he said. "I hope New Yorkers recognize that with this unit we'll have the better tools that we need to catch those individuals, like the one last night, and to put them away and to get them off our streets."