New York City continues to grapple with a surge in crime and gun violence as two people were killed and six were injured, during a three-hour period of bloodshed across the city on Tuesday.
Seven people were shot, including one fatally, in three separate shootings in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn, police said.
Meanwhile in Washington Heights, a 20-year-old woman was found stabbed to death around 4.30pm.
Police say Fateema Boston, from Queens, was found unconscious and unresponsive with multiple stab wounds to her body at an apartment on West 163 Street.
She was taken to Harlem Hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
Four men were wounded in a drive-by shooting outside the Ravenswood Houses in Astoria, Queens on Tuesday
A New York City Police Department evidence collection team officer works in the area where several young men were shot. A 21-year-old man is in critical condition after being shot in the head
Kaylha Armand, also 20, has been charged with murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, in relation to the incident, according to police.
Boston had reportedly shown up to the home to confront Armand, her friend’s ex-girlfriend, sources told The New York Daily News.
Evenlyn Figueroa said Armand had reacted in self-defense, noting the accused attacker did not know Boston, who allegedly showed up to pick a fight.
‘Kaylha asked her to leave several times,’ Figueroa told the paper. ‘She was in her house watching television and minding her own business. Her ex called some girls over to fight her.’
In a separate incident 30 minutes later, four men were wounded in a drive-by shooting outside the Ravenswood Houses in Astoria, Queens.
Police said a gunman in a blue Jeep opened fire from his vehicle around 5pm, shooting a 21-year-old man in the head, leaving him in critical condition.
In Harlem, two men aged 39 and 19 were taken to the hospital after they were shot during an argument around 6pm
A 26-year-old man was also shot dead in East Flatbush in Brooklyn, capping off a night of gun violence in New York City
The NYC Police Benevolent Association criticized prosecutors in Brooklyn in a tweet Tuesday after New York’s police commissioner Dermot Shea said the surge in violence is coming out of Brooklyn
A 19-year-old man was struck in the leg, while a 17-year-old was hit in the back. An 18-year-old was also injured in the incident.
In Harlem, two men, aged 39 and 19 were wounded by gunfire around 6pm.
The elder man was hit in the arm, while the teen sustained two gunshot wounds to his leg. They were treated at Harlem Hospital and are expected to recover.
A 26-year-old man was also shot dead in a suspected drive-by in East Flatbush, Brooklyn around 7.30pm, police said.
No arrests have been made in any of the shootings as of Wednesday morning.
It comes as New York City struggles to cope with a recent wave of crime and gun violence that has emerged across the five boroughs as coronavirus lockdown restrictions were lifted.
Figures released by the NYPD on Monday showed shootings have increased by 82 percent year to date, and murders are up by 30 percent.
The NYPD released their own statistics on shootings in NYC, which were higher than Cuomo’s
Shootings in New York City have nearly doubled in the past year, and there has been a nearly 30% increase in murders, according to the NYPD
In the past week, there have been 18 murders – up from 10 in the same time period last year, while car thefts have doubled and there have been 37 more shootings, the NYPD said
New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted gun violence in NYC and upstate New York Monday, while noting that police and local communities needed to work together
For the period between August 10 and August 16, shootings were up 82.1 percent, murders increased by 30.2 percent, burglaries are up 43.3 percent and car theft is up 58.7 percent, year to date.
Year to date, crime is down by 2.7 percent but compared to this week last year, it is up by 2.0 percent.
As the crimes go up, the number of arrests being made are also declining, the figures showed.
During a press conference addressing the troubling stats on Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said 76 people in the state were shot, including 14 who died, over the last week.
More than 90 percent of the victims were black ‘or brown’, Gov Cuomo said.
The governor criticized police for not doing enough to get a handle on the situation and threatened to pull funding from up to 500 departments across the state if they do not have plans in place by April 2021.
His comments came days after the NYC Police Benevolent Association announced it was endorsing Trump for the 2020 presidential election.
Houston police chief invites cops from defunded departments across the country to join his force as he plans out-of-state officer transfer program
BY MARLENE LENTHANG FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo has invited cops from defunded departments across the country to serve on his force, as he slams budget cuts as ‘ridiculous, knee-jerk political decisions’ that threaten public safety.
Acevedo stressed the importance and need for officers during a police academy graduation ceremony speech on Monday before 44 cadets.
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo
Chief Acevedo says the HPD is working on a new program that will make it easier for qualified out-of-state police officers to transfer and work in Houston
‘People of Houston, they don’t want less policing, they want better policing and well-trained police officers,’ he said after the ceremony for Cadet Class #245.
He then invited embattled officers in other parts of the country where departments are being reformed or defunded – including nearby Austin, Texas – to serve in Houston.
‘I will just say to police officers in Austin, and the good police officers across the country, come to Houston,’ he said according to Fox7.
Following the police killing of George Floyd police departments across the nation have faced calls to be defunded, or ended all together.
But Houston is standing their ground and recently approved the hiring and training of roughly 400 new officers.
‘We’re excited about the restoration of five classes, while places like Austin are cutting a significant amount of police resources,’ Acevedo said.
Austin will cut $150million from its department – which accounts for a third of the city’s current law enforcement budget.
Acevedo slammed Austin’s move to defund.
‘I think it’s ridiculous when you make decisions that are knee-jerk political decisions that are not based on evidence, not based on research. It ends up impacting the safety of the American people in Austin,’ he said.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner also supported the move to bring more officers in. He said he wanted to add at least 600 more officers to its current force about 5,300.
‘People want policing that is sound, accountable and respectful,’ he said Monday at a news conference. ‘They want public safety.’
Chief Acevedo says the HPD is working on a new program that will make it easier for qualified out-of-state police officers to transfer and work in Houston.
This program could involve a 10-week academy course, instead of 6 months.
Across the US at least 13 cities have cut funding from police department budgets in the wake of national protests decrying police brutality and systemic racism.
Most of these budgets don’t see job cuts, but instead seek to cut corners on overtime, cancel incoming cadet classes, and other measures.
Those departments include Austin where the city council voted Thursday to cut to the police budget to reinvest money in social programs including food access, violence prevention and abortion access.
The plan will eliminate funding from three planned police cadet classes, however the council said it may allow one or two cadet classes to begin in fiscal year 2021. The proposal also seeks to eliminate 150 vacant officer positions.
The Austin Police Department currently has 2,646 sworn law enforcement personnel.
The president has openly sided with police and members of law enforcement amid ongoing protests and calls for police reform across the country.
Trump has promised to prioritize law and order and restore it in New York, which has been rocked by looting, vandalism, shootings and violence in the past three months.
DailyMail.com has contacted the NYC PBA for comment.
Cuomo said that although he had made an executive order on June 12, insisting that the individual police jurisdictions adopt a reform plan by April 1, 2021, ‘very little had been done’ so far.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said on Tuesday that ‘about half of the shootings in New York City, close to, are coming out of Brooklyn and that’s a big problem’
‘We have an issue and we have to address the issue,’ Cuomo said, also noting that ‘denial is not a successful life strategy, not in government, not in your personal life.’
Cuomo said that it was necessary to get both sides to the table to create police departments that can actually carry out a public safety function ‘because divorce is not an option.’
‘The relationship is based on trust and respect and the relationship is ruptured,’ Cuomo said of police and community members.
Meanwhile New York’s police commissioner blamed the surge in gun violence on the city’s Brooklyn borough, claiming perpetrators are also committing similar acts in other part of the Big Apple.
Over the weekend, authorities confirmed that New York City saw at least 39 shootings, six fatalities and more than 50 injuries.
On Tuesday, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea told NY 1 that a large amount of the violence is coming out of Brooklyn.
‘Right now about half of the shootings in New York City, close to, are coming out of Brooklyn and that’s a big problem,’ Shea said.
‘When you dig a little deeper and peel the onion back you’re seeing Brooklyn individuals and perpetrators with active gun cases sometimes from Brooklyn committing violence in other parts of the city,’ Shea said.