De Blasio Says Solution To Spike In Gun Violence Is Courts, Economy And COVID Recovery; Security Expert Throws 'The BS Flag' On That
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Mayor Bill de Blasio offered more promises and platitudes Monday but little action after a 12-year-old boy became the latest victim of the soaring gun violence plaguing the city.
This as a top security expert tells CBS2 the mayor's promises to fix things are pie in the sky unless cops are given more support.
As CBS2's political reporter Marcia Kramer reports, Evette Lilley is fed up with the city's inability to stop the gun violence.
"It's constantly happening and nothing is being done," she said.
Lilley speaking out after her 12-year-old grandson was shot in the chest Saturday night when someone open fire near Malcolm X Boulevard and Madison Street in Bed-Stuy.
"The guns need to go off the street," Lilley said.
But when Kramer asked the Mayor about it – the surge in gun violence that saw shootings soar 257% for the week that ended April 4 — all she got was a vague promise.
Watch: Mayor Bill de Blasio Holds Daily Briefing
"Marcia, we are going to fight back this challenge," de Blasio said.
The mayor fell back on what has become his stock answer to shootings, murders and gun crimes — it's the courts, the economy, the pandemic.
"It really does matter getting the court system going, getting the economy going again, getting the kids back in school in large numbers in September. All these things are going to turn the tide," de Blasio said.
"When I hear the mayor say that, I immediately throw the BS flag down and say there's no way that this has anything to do with COVID, the economy. None of the above. This has everything to do with the bad guys knowing the good guys aren't really doing their job because they're afraid to do their job." said security expert Manny Gomez.
Gomez is a former FBI agent and NYPD sergeant who worked battling violent crimes like the shooting of the 12-year-old.
He says the mayor has made a lot of mistakes, like signing the diaphragm bill and eliminating the anti-crime unit, in the name of police reform.
"That was the unit that was addressing violent crime and taking guns off the street," Gomez said. "So for the mayor to say it's gonna get better if and when the economy gets better, if COVID goes away - he doesn't know when that's going to happen."
"I was numb. I was totally numb when they called and told me the news about my grandson," Lilley said.
Gomez points out that gun violence hurts the economy - that tourists wont come back to a city where 12-year-olds are shot and they don't feel safe.