Two women and a four-year-old child were injured Saturday afternoon in Times Square, in a shooting whose motivations are unknown, police said New York.
The attack took place shortly before 5:00 p.m., at the intersection of 7th Avenue and 44th Street, a police spokesman told AFP.
The three victims were admitted to a Manhattan hospital and their lives were not in danger, he added.
No arrests have yet been made and police said “the investigation is ongoing”, without giving further details. A press conference will take place on Saturday night.
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“Fortunately, these innocent bystanders are in stable condition,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted. “The perpetrators of this violence are sought and the police will bring them to justice. The flow of illegal weapons reaching New York must be stopped,” he added.
Times Square, one of the tourist spots in the metropolis before the pandemic, has changed since all theaters closed in March 2020.
According to a recent report by Times Square Alliance, the neighborhood business association, the area recorded 25 violent crimes in the first quarter of 2021, up from 17 in the same period in 2020.
At the end of March, the video recording of the assault on a 60-year-old of Asian origin in the neighborhood had deeply shocked.
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A man with a heavy judicial record, who lived in a hotel near Times Square converted into a reception center for the homeless, was arrested and charged for that act.
Neighborhood theaters will begin reopening on September 14, and the Mayor of New York recently announced a major campaign to revive tourism starting in June.
Shootings in New York have increased dramatically since the summer of 2020 and protests against police violence that followed George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, sparking controversy over the causes and remedies for this increase, six weeks before primaries for municipal elections.
According to the latest official statistics, New York had 149 shootings in April, up from 56 in April 2020 (+ 166%). Overall crime increased 30% during the same period.
jabf / lsm
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