The one mercy of Tuesday’s shooting aboard a Manhattan-bound subway car is that, as of this writing, none of the victims has died. While many face lasting physical and emotional trauma, by some miracle the mad gunman’s Glock jammed before he killed any of his targets.
Other New Yorkers, however, were not so lucky. While the city’s eyes were turned to Sunset Park, three people were killed in separate shootings in The Bronx, and 13 others were wounded across The Bronx and Brooklyn in a roughly six-hour span. The injured included a 15-year-old girl, a child caught up in adults’ war.
Such violence is no longer unusual in New York — it is the norm. Tuesday’s massacre was, in more ways than one, a perfect example of how far the city has slipped over the past two years. Though the tragedy is unique, it is yet another punishing reminder of the safety New Yorkers have been forced to surrender and the failures of their leaders to stem the bleeding.
This week’s violence is what many New Yorkers — especially those in the poorest, blackest and most gang-infested neighborhoods — have had to live with for two years. Murders are up 18% from where they were two years ago, while shootings have spiked more than 70%. There is little reason to believe the problem will abate any time soon: Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected by citizens concerned about crime, is confronting criticism for the continued skyrocketing of violence.
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Charles Fain Lehman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. Follow him on Twitter here.
This piece originally appeared in New York Post