A Spring Weekend in New York

With everything in bloom and temperatures in the 70s New Yorkers went out to enjoy the city last weekend and violent criminals were there to greet them.  Fox News reports that thirty-one people were shot from Friday, May 21 thru Sunday, May 23, with six fatalities.  One victim, a 34-year-old woman eating at a restaurant in Prospect Heights was hit in the face by a bullet fragment from an apparent gang shootout on Washington Avenue.  The New York Daily News reports that a 31-year-old man walking past the restaurant with his wife was also shot during the same incident.  There were fifty shootings in the city last week, a 257% increase over the same week a year ago.   Over 2020 as we watched news broadcasts of cell phone video showing multiple incidents of NYPD officers being attacked while trying to make arrests or sitting in patrol cars, city leaders were busy releasing arrestees on zero bail and emptying out jails to protect criminals from Covid 19.  Earlier this year, as part of a police reform package, the City Council eliminated qualified immunity for police accused of using excessive force.  So-called criminal justice reform is increasing crime in New York City.