Mayor Adams again calls on lawmakers to analyze recent violent crimes and change laws
NEW YORK -- Residents in two more New York City neighborhoods say they don't feel safe after the latest random acts of violence, a shootout in Chelsea and the stabbing of a fruit vendor in Fort Greene.
Friday, CBS2's political reporter Marcia Kramer asked Mayor Eric Adams what's being done to make the streets safer.
Police shut down Sixth Avenue between West 20th and 22nd Streets on Friday morning to investigate a dark-colored sedan with a bullet hole in the door. It may have been the result of a shootout between cops and two unidentified gunman outside the club Doux on West 21st Street.
"I've been living here for about a year now. I'm planning to live here for a long time. I've never felt unsafe or had any issues. So I'm pretty surprised," said Sarah Haas.
"There's no respect for authority and things like this is gonna happen. Then people want to blame the guns? It's not the guns. It's the criminals that you're letting constantly out on the street doing the same thing that they did prior," said Monet Bourne, another Chelsea resident.
Police said the incident took place around 2:45 a.m. Plainclothes cops in NYPD windbreakers were on-duty inside the club when bouncers said there was a robbery taking place outside. When officers approached the two suspects, according to police, one of them opened fire. The cops fired back, but no one was hit.
Residents said they used to feel safe, but now things are changing.
"When I go see my friend over on 22nd and Broadway, if it's after dark I'll literally take an Uber home," another woman said.
Police are also looking for a man wanted in connection with a random, unprovoked stabbing of a fruit stand worker two days ago in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The suspect approached the man from behind and then stabbed him in the shoulder with a screwdriver.
The victim, with bandages on his wound, returned to work Friday and spoke with CBS2, but didn't want to be identified.
"He doesn't tell me nothing. He just come from my back and he's gonna punch me like that, but don't know who this is," the fruit stand worker said.
Mayor Adams is once again trying to convince state lawmakers to fix the laws, especially the age at which defendants are sent to family court.
"Let's do an analysis of the crimes that we're seeing, particularly the violence crimes, the gun crimes, the robberies," Adams said.
The mayor said if they do the analysis, they'll see an increase in both the number of young people committing crimes and becoming the victims of crimes. He said it would prove that the laws need to be tweaked.