Photos: YouTube\Twitter
Several New York City mayoral candidates have weighing in on Saturday’s Times Square shooting–which wounded two women and a 4-year-old. Farrakhan Muhammad (above) who is alleged by NYPD to be the shooter was reportedly trying to shoot his brother.
Democratic mayoral candidate Ray McGuire released the following statement in regards to the Times Square shooting and rise in overall gun violence:
“The most fundamental responsibility New York City has to its citizens is to keep them safe. Again and again we have seen our leaders fail to do so and the city has breached its contract with New Yorkers. Our babies are dying in the streets.
“The simple fact is: no safety, no city.
“As gun violence continues to rise in our city at alarming rates, the fix isn’t to defund and disarm, leaving the most vulnerable and often forgotten neighborhoods unprotected, nor is the answer going back to Giuliani-era police tactics like some have suggested. We need to immediately increase the number of police officers within the NYPD focused on getting guns off our streets, as well as community resources that effectively prevent and disrupt violence. And our courts need the ability to get repeat offenders and known members of criminal organizations off the streets.
“Mayor de Blasio must immediately assemble the NYPD, NYC DA’s, and city and state legislators to make any legal, budgetary, and strategic changes necessary to end this violence.
“Today, a mother is spending her Mother’s Day at a hospital bedside, praying for her child to recover. No more mothers should have to experience the tragic loss of a child to gun violence. We must act now to protect the future of our children, our families and our city.”
Andrew Yang said the following:
“The truth is that New York cannot afford to defund the police, not while New Yorkers are concerned about rising rates of violent crime and a surge in hate crimes. If the city cannot stop shootings in Times Square, one of the most policed neighborhoods in our city, what does that say about what’s happening in Black and brown communities throughout our city where we’re underinvesting and we know that rates of gun violence are higher?
“Our city’s opening and recovery is contingent on whether our streets and subways are safe. Nothing works in this city without public safety, and for public safety, we need the police to be our partners. We cannot fall into the trap of imagining there’s a false choice between keeping our people safe and evolving the NYPD – the fact is we cannot do one without the other. We need to restore our city with hope – hope begins with safety.”
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who recently pulled ahead of Yang in the polls, release the following:
“Those who are looking to be our chief executive are coming with a one-sided approach to public safety. Safety is prevention and intervention. Prevention is building out real programs that will actually stop the occurrence of the underlying reasons that we have violence,” Adams said. “For Andrew Yang to stand here and all of a sudden realize this threat in our city. And why? Because of what he stated, ‘this happened a block from my house.’ Well you know what, Andrew? These shootings have been happening blocks from my house for years and blocks from poorer New Yorkers for years.”
Outside of a Brooklyn church, candidate Maya Wiley talked about finding “real and effective” solutions to getting guns off the streets and said, “What we know is that we are not sufficiently tackling gun violence in our communities in our cities.”
Candidate Dianne Morales tweeted: “This is heartbreaking and unfortunately all too common. It’s a painful reminder that we need bigger solutions than the police. We have enough resources to finally address the conditions that got us here. This is our time to do just that.”
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer said, “Enough. We must end gun violence in our communities, get guns off our streets, and enact change to keep New Yorkers safe.”
Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams issued the following statement:
“Last night’s shooting in Times Square shook me, shook our city, and forever changed the lives of the three victims – who I am deeply relieved have survived. I offer my prayers to each of them, and to their families, for a quick and full recovery.
“On Mothers’ Day, we think of the women shot, the child shot, and we think of all parents trying to keep their children safe in our city. We owe it to them as leaders to implement a plan for co-producing public safety, with everyone playing a role, to prevent future violence and save lives. We have already proven that we know what works to combat gun violence, and we can do it again – in recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we must also fight this wave in the gun violence epidemic.
“We cannot ignore that this shooting – not a targeted attack but an incident of street violence – occurred in one of the most recognizable areas in our city and in the world. One with police presence who were thankfully able to respond, but were not able to prevent it. That speaks to the idea that this violence can occur anywhere, but also reminds us that we need multiple responses to truly tackle this epidemic. In addition, when the same kind of violence happens in Central Brooklyn, the South Bronx, or Southeast Queens, the loss demands the same level of attention and the communities demand equitable response.”
