New York records violent week after Times Square shooting

New York, May 10 (EFE) .- Armed violence in New York continues to increase and, after the shooting in broad daylight in Times Square attributed to a dispute this Saturday, the weekly number of victims of this type of event doubled those of the same dates last year, according to the local police.
Authorities registered 36 shootings that left 43 victims last week, more than double compared to the same period last year, coinciding with the dates when a wave of violence began in the city in parallel to the coronavirus crisis.
The Times Square shooting left three pedestrians injured, including a 4-year-old girl, and has sparked a cross-talk between policy makers, law enforcement, and mayors on the causes of the growing gun violence and its Possible solution.
Only in April there were 149 incidents of armed violence in the Big Apple, practically triple the number in that section of 2020, and there are already 451 since the beginning of the year, 86% more year-on-year, alarming figures for a summer in which is expected a return of tourism to reactivate the economy.
The mayor, Bill de Blasio, defended today that New York is “an overwhelmingly safe city”, but acknowledged that the economic “return” depends on that security and assured that the police presence in the Times Square area and others will be reinforced. points.
“We need better laws to curb the flow of weapons in this country but for years we have lowered gun violence by working with communities and much of it has been interrupted by the global pandemic. The answer is to bring jobs, activities and refine the strategies of the police, “he noted.
The Chief of the New York Police, Dermot Shea, assured in a press conference that they have been seizing weapons “at an alarming rate for the last two years” and attributed it to “bad policies”
Aspiring mayors have taken the opportunity to offer their ideas, such as Andrew Yang or Ray McGuire, who are committed to providing more funds or increasing the police force, which last year saw their budget cut by 1,000 million dollars, while others such as Maya Wiley or Dianne Morales seek a greater financial cut to that institution.

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