Two women and a child were injured Saturday afternoon in Times Square, New York, caught in a shooting, an incident that risks fueling controversy over the rise in crime as the city wants to revive tourism.
The shooting took place in broad daylight, just before 5:00 p.m., at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 44th Street, according to police who cordoned off the area for several hours.
The three victims – a four-year-old in her stroller, shot in the leg as her family bought toys, a 46-year-old woman affected in the foot, and a 23-year-old tourist from the state of Rhode Island affected in the leg – were hospitalized in a Manhattan hospital, and their life was not in danger, said New York police chief Dermot Shea during a press briefing at the scene.
According to preliminary information cited by the boss of the New York police force, Dermot Shea, the three victims – who apparently did not know each other – found themselves by chance in the middle of an argument between “two to four men”. At least one of them drew a gun and fired.
No arrests had been made by early evening. Police called for witnesses and released surveillance camera footage of a wanted man.
Mr. Shea denounced laws insufficient to combat the growing number of firearms illegally circulating in America’s largest metropolis, and to stop repeat offenders.
“How many children have to be reached before we realize that bad policies have harmful consequences?” he said, recalling that two people suspected of a shooting that killed a baby in July 2020 in Brooklyn had just been arrested.
“Fortunately, these innocent passers-by are in stable condition,” Mayor Bill de Blasio also tweeted. “The perpetrators of this violence are wanted and the police will bring them to justice. The flow of illegal weapons arriving in New York must stop, ”he added.
