Gun Violence in New York: A Man Killed While Attending a Memorial

Gun violence has gripped New York City as a man was shot and wounded on Monday at a memorial for three teens who were shot, two fatally and one wounded, at a park, in Brooklyn.

According to the official, the 22-years old man was shot in the shoulder by a gunman who walked up to him during the memorial at around 10:30 p.m. on Monday.

Police released a surveillance video of a model Honda CRV sought in the case of the three teenagers, who were shot at a park, in Brooklyn.

Moreover, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York Police Department have previously listed the reasons for the increase in the city’s crime rate.

The reasons include; the effect of lockdown (COVID-19), police reforms due to the protest from “Black Lives Matters,” which made the policemen hesitant to make arrests, offenders being released from jail, and non-prosecutions by district attorneys.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio discussed the high rate of crime and strategies to address gun violence in New York City.

“It’s a perfect storm where we’ve seen so much dislocation in this city, so much pain, so much frustration, and in the middle of all that we don’t even have the normal things that we depend on to make sure we can stop violence, like a functioning court system,” he said.

“We need to see follow-through on the prosecutions because a lot of these are individuals who, if we had the normal full function — this is everyone and NYPD, prosecutors, judges, court system — if everything were functioning normally some of the people committing the violence would not be out on the street,” de Blasio said. “This is the missing link to really getting some of these folks who are doing the most violence off the streets.”

The Office Court Administration spokesman, Lucian Chalfen, has responded to Mayor Bill’s statement, saying the court system has been working to re-establish full-court operations, including jury trials.

“Without offering any specifics, the Mayor blithely asks us to call in thousands of people a week Citywide for jury duty,” Chalfen said. “He constantly demonstrates that he has absolutely no understanding of how the criminal justice process works.”

Moreso, New York Governor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also addressed the increase in gun violence.

“I believe the prosecutors, the district attorneys, also feel political pressure in this moment, but they cannot let that interfere with how they charge a case. They are there to enforce the law. Enforce the law,” Cuomo said. “There’s a difference between people who are peaceful protesters — where DAs have said they wanted to show leniency, which I understand and I support. It’s different than a person who looted, or a person with a gun, and they should not be playing politics in how they charge a case.”

According to the officials, The 22-years old man was killed in a memorial held for a drive-by shooting at the park on Vermont Street Sunday that left two teenagers dead Kleimer P. Mendez, 16 and Antonio Villa, 18 and another wounded, while playing basketball.

 Mendez died at the scene, while Vila was rushed to the hospital, but he could not survive the shot and the third victim, a 17-year-old, suffered a gunshot wound in the leg.

Detectives on Tuesday were at the park in Brooklyn and worked to identify the motive for the shootings.