An 80-year-old military veteran with Alzheimer’s became the latest victim of the violence gripping our city — wounded by a stray bullet while crossing the street as he shopped with his wife at TJ Maxx.
And our walking “Saturday Night Live” skit of a mayor’s response? He ignored it, preferring to yuk it up about vaccines in a Nets Jersey.
In Queens, meanwhile, a woman was shot dead in a drive-by shooting while she attended a vigil for a previous murder victim.
The administration’s answer? Nothing new. No change in NYPD strategy, no call for a crackdown on gang violence, no move to reassure commuters that it’s safe to come back to work and tourists that it’s safe to visit.
Which is what makes the mayoral primary election, a little more than a month away (with early voting starting June 12), all the more important. Following Bill de Blasio’s deadly negligence, we need a mayor that will do something to stop the bloodshed on our streets.
As our earlier endorsement outlined, Eric Adams is that man. A former police officer, he understands that this is a crisis that needs to be dealt with, not defunded.
We cannot accept a climate where the elderly and children are victimized by flying bullets, where young men kill each other in gang retributions. Let’s get a mayor who actually cares.