In the wake of New York Mayor Eric Adams’ Twitter announcement praising “one of the safest weekends in 19 years,” the city’s Independence Day celebrations came to a close last evening marked by bloodshed with two lives claimed and nine others wounded, the victims of varying shootings across the city.
The NYPD’s initial calculations indicate that between midnight and 5 a.m. Wednesday, 11 casualties were inflicted in nine distinct shooting events. The fatalities were two men, one from The Bronx and another from Inwood, in Upper Manhattan.
The figures of shootings and victims may fluctuate as each case is being scrutinized, as per a report by the Daily News.
A violent morning that included a string of shootings has left at least two dead in New York City, police say. https://t.co/fvmPRN3CnX
— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) July 5, 2023
Turning out with the team in the Bronx this evening. Officers like these removed over 70 guns off our streets last week. This holiday weekend was one of the safest in 19 years. pic.twitter.com/7PIKvs0NxG
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) July 4, 2023
At approximately 1:45 a.m., law enforcement officials were called to a shooting scene where they discovered a man of 30 years, his face marred by bullet wounds, on Vermilyea Avenue in the Inwood section of Manhattan. The man was transported to NYC Health and Hospitals in Harlem, where he was later declared dead.
The identification of the deceased is pending until family members are notified. As reported by NBC News, there have been no arrests in relation to the case, and the investigation continues.
The other death was recorded in The Bronx. The police stated that around 2:21 a.m., gunfire struck two individuals on Morris Avenue. An 18-year-old male victim, suffering a gunshot wound to the left leg, was transported to St. Barnabas Hospital, where he was declared deceased.
The second victim, whose age is currently unknown, was hit in the left hip and is reportedly in stable condition at St. Barnabas Hospital.
Despite the violence, Mayor Adams – an NYPD veteran – took to Twitter yesterday morning to laud the NYPD’s efforts, displaying photos of himself along with officers in The Bronx and stating, “Officers (NYPD) took more than 70 firearms off our streets last week. This holiday weekend was one of the safest in 19 years.”
The surge in New York’s violent incidents occurred mere hours after President Joe Biden’s Tuesday call for more rigid gun control measures, referencing a string of “tragic and senseless shootings” that took the lives of at least 12 people and left numerous others injured nationwide in the run-up to the July 4 holiday.
“We have the ability to reinstate bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, mandate secure gun storage, remove liability immunity for gun manufacturers, and impose universal background checks,” President Biden declared in his statement issued yesterday.