You can’t blame the city of New York for this one. They did everything they could. Sure they cut 11% of their police budget during the fevered post-George Floyd defund-the-police mania under Warren Wilhelm, Jr. And OK, the severely undermanned NYPD has since been described as “unfixable” in its current state. And yes, the city has a DA in Manhattan who’s more interested in “re-thinking” criminal justice than he is prosecuting actual criminals.
Still and all, the city that never sleeps has done what it can to fight the spike in violent crime. They enacted a radical Bruen-response gun control law that walls off huge swaths of the island as “sensitive areas” where even thinking about guns is prohibited. And just to make sure everyone is aware of the off-limits designation, the city put up “gun-free zone” signs all around Times Square last year.
So there really shouldn’t be any confusion about Times Square’s status as a place where guns are absolutely verboten.
Given all of that effort, you can probably imagine how confused NYPD Deputy Commissioner Robert Barrows (above) must be at the news that three people were shot in Times Square last night. It’s almost inconceivable.
From the New York Post . . .
The trio of victims — aged 15, 16 and 17 — were struck by bullets when a male suspect opened fire on Seventh Avenue between West 41st and 42nd streets at 11:50 p.m., the NYPD said.
The 15-year-old and 16-year-old boys were each hit in the leg.
Maybe they were from out of town. Or maybe English isn’t the shooter’s primary language. Perhaps the city should post signs in Spanish, French, Chinese and a range of other languages to ensure that everyone gets the gun-free message.
The gunman fled on foot on West 41st Street, authorities said.
He hadn’t been arrested by early Tuesday.
The shooting — and the mystery of how the shooter got a gun into Times Square — remain under investigation.