More than 50 shot, seven killed – including man at ‘gun-violence memorial – in de Blasio’s New York City
More than 50 shot, seven killed – including man at ‘gun-violence memorial – in de Blasio’s New York City Law Enforcement Today
Over the course of four days, Thursday, August 13 through Sunday, August 16, there were 50 people shot, with seven fatalities. These shootings are 50 separate shootings, 40 gun-related incidents since Friday.
Breitbart News reported 20 victims from 12 shootings on Friday. Deshawn Reid, 28-years-old was shout out in front of his Flatbush apartment on Ocean Avenue Friday at 4 p.m. Deshawn was the only victim to die out of the 20. He died from his wounds.
By Sunday morning, Paul Pinkney, 46, was mourning DeShawn Reid’s death when he was shot and killed. Pinkney was lighting candles for Reid. Pinkney was shot in the head two times and pronounced dead at the scene. Pinkney was known as “P-Funk”, a handyman, who did little side jobs here and there, trying to avoid getting sick by the COVID-19.
Tyquasia Davis, 30, the wife of Pinkney’s nephew said:
“He was out her because another young man died over there so he came from the young men’s candle lighting yesterday, right there where a young man died. So, he went to go in and light a candle for him and somebody shot him.”
Davis also said:
“He was loved by everybody.”
NYPD data showed that from midnight Friday to Monday morning, at least 39 shootings occurred involving 51 people. Seven of these victims were killed. On early Sunday, a 47-year-old man was shot and killed in the area of Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
Another fatality was New York City corrections officer, John Jeff. He was killed by his own gun. He was leaving from a party in Queens when he was shot 11 times Saturday morning. The shooting occurred while he was looking for a parking spot. LET Unity – It’s being called the “Netflix” of the Emergency Responder and Veteran CommunityPlay Video
On Saturday afternoon, a man started shooting at a subway rider in one of New York City’s busiest train terminals, Grand Central. The victim was injured, and the suspect was arrested. Tearance Crumpty, 26, was arrested according to NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison.
A crimestoppers tip helped police track Crumpty to Queens. He is facing charges of attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a loaded firearm. The firearm was recovered. Crumpty opened fire on the southbound train No. 4,5, and 6 at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Crumpty and the victim were arguing prior to the shooting. The victim works at Keste, a popular pizza place on Bleecker Street. The restaurant has set up a GoFundMe page for the victim to help his family pay for the medical bills. The victim has worked at Keste Pizza for a long time.
Another five individuals were shot by Monday morning. Four men were shot in Cypress Hills and another man shot in the Upper West Side. None of the victims sustained life-threatening injuries and were treated at the hospital.
These shootings are occurring while New York is trying to re-open from the COVID-19 pandemic closures, mass unemployment, and latest protests that have condemned police violence.
Nationally, there has been a 37% increase in gun violence this summer. This statistic comes from a non-partisan criminal justice group’s study.
President Trump tweeted: “Law and Order. If [NYC Mayor de Blasio] can’t do it, we will!”
President Trump has talked of sending federal troops to other cities where gun violence has gotten out of control. He offered to send federal troops to Chicago back in July. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D), rejected President Trump’s offer and chose to push for more gun control. Mayor Lightfoot stated securing gun control would be how President Trump could really help.
The Chicago Tribune reported Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as saying:
“If the president was really committed to helping us deal with our violence, he would do some easy things. What he would push for is universal background checks, he would push for an assault weapons ban, he would push to make sure that people who are banned from getting on airplanes can’t get guns.”
Sounds a lot like Philadelphia:
PHILADELPHIA, PA –Several people were shot over the last few days in Philadelphia, making it one of the deadliest weekends in the history of the city. Many of the shootings stemmed from large gatherings which are forbidden in Pennsylvania under Governor Tom Wolf, who has limited all gatherings to more than 25 people.
In July, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf issued the mandate in response to rising levels of COVID-19 positive patients. The idea in limiting crowds to no more than 25 people is supposed to limit the spread of the infection.
Perhaps someone should have told the city of Philadelphia which may well have prevented the mass violence over the weekend (sarcasm).
In one reported incident, 5 people, including a 16-year-old where shot around midnight on the 15th. The large group of people, estimated to be roughly 200, was believed to have been some type of block party. For an unknown reason, some members of the crowd started shooting at each other.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw stated that the victims of the shooting ranged in age from 16 to 26-years-old. Outlaw said:
“It’s disturbing, it’s disheartening,” when speaking of another weekend in her city being plagued with gun violence.
Outlaw advised that officers were nearby when they reported seeing muzzle flashes and heard the gun shots. Quickly after the first shot was fired, multiple other rounds were fired from a different weapon.
Officers ran to the scene and located the victims. Outlaw said that multiple shell casings from different types of firearms were located at the scene. “Right now we’re trying to piece it all together.” At this point, there has been no information released which would give a reason why the shooting may have occurred.
Outlaw noted the amount of people that were present during this shooting and believes that someone witnessed some or all of it. Outlaw said:
“We do believe someone knows who the shooters were.”
She is hoping that witnesses will come forward “so we can hopefully get ahead of anything that could occur as a result of this.”
There have not been any identifications made of victims or possible suspects. There have also been no details released on the conditions of the victims.
Prior to this report, officers responded to a 17-year-old who had been shot in the chest after 9pm. This shooting happened in the area of West Harold Street in North Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the victim in this case succumbed to his injuries.
Shortly after 6am, police responded to nine other shootings that had 10 victims before 7am on the 16th. One of the ones who was shot was an 18-year-old who was struck at least nine times in the area of G Street in Kensington. He is showing in critical condition at the Temple University Hospital.
Later that same day, after 9pm, a young adult was shot in the head near Webster Street in Southwest Center City. He was pronounced dead at the scene. So far, police have not released any suspect or persons of interest in the case.
The Philadelphia Inquirer notes that 25 people were shot the weekend prior, including two 11-year-olds and six people who were at a playground in the area of the famous Philadelphia Zoo.
The Inquirer reports that the beginning of last week, over 1,100 people had been shot in Philadelphia in 2020, which shows a 36% increase over the same time frame from last year. They also note that the frequency of the shootings is higher than any year since 2007. Overall, homicides have increased by 31%.
The Philadelphia City Council will be holding an emergency meeting in hopes of coming up with a way to curb the gun violence. Whether they can develop an effective one or not remains to be seen.
Then of course you’ve got Chicago… where it’s so bad that police don’t even trust that prosecutors want to stop it:
CHICAGO, IL –In Chicago, police officers, and the world for that matter, were ensured by Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot that prosecutions would follow the arrests of those responsible for looting on August 10th.
However, the President of the Chicago FOP believes that this may not be the case and in fact, Democratic State Attorney Kim Foxx, will dismiss all of the charges.
Now, he is calling for the US Attorney’s office to step in.
On August 10th, rioters and looters were dropped off in an exclusive business area known as the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. Scores of people damaged businesses and stole anything that was not bolted to the floor.
They did these acts, some believe, because a false story was shared on social media claiming Chicago Police had shot and killed an unarmed teenager who was black. The truth was police had shot an adult who had fired upon them first.
Others, like Lightfoot, believe that the mass looting was nothing more than a pre-planned attack on they city and the business owners. Some evidence has been heard since which may lead people to be believe that Lightfoot is right, since a Black Lives Matter activist called the thefts nothing more than her “people” getting reparations.
Lightfoot has called for the arrests and prosecutions for the criminals who participated in the looting spree that night.
“To those who engaged in this criminal behavior, let’s be clear: we are coming for you.”
And yet, despite that vow, members of the Chicago Police Department do not believe Foxx has any thought of pursuing the criminal cases.
Foxx does not believe that her policy of dropping criminal charges against people contributed to the looting. In a statement, she said:
“The notion that people believe they are somehow empowered because people weren’t prosecuted for looting back in the wake of the unrest beginning is simply not true. Those cases are coming to court now.”
What she fails to consider is word has spread rapidly about her filing decisions and policies. Regardless if one of those cases she refers to has been dropped yet, everyone in the nation knows it is coming.
Even Lightfoot has finally realized that if there are no prosecutions for the criminal offenses, there are no repercussions for being arrested, thus, crime will continue.
Even though Lightfoot believes that Foxx will follow through with prosecuting these criminals, simply because she asked her to, her office has a history of not following through on prosecutions. The Chicago of Fraternal Order of Police authored a letter that was sent to US Attorney John Lausch, Jr, requesting federalprosecution for the rioters.
In that letter, the FOP President, John Catanzara, Jr, points out that the officers charged with bringing peace back to the streets of Chicago have been subjected to “threats both verbally and physically, were battered with all types of bricks and rocks and stood the line and helped protect the citizens and their property.”
Catanzara goes on to note that the officers were given assurances that charges would be filed by Foxx’s office, however, he believes that will not happen.
Catanzara states that Foxx’s office has instituted a “presumption of dismissal” for various charges involving the rioting and looting. The reason behind this is her claim that the criminals were peaceful protesters even though there is plenty of video footage to dispute that claim. Catanzara requests the US Attorney step in if Foxx continues her “presumption of dismissal.”
While it is unclear if the US Attorney can or will take any action, what is clear is that the criminals doing these riots and looting have no fear of prosecution. Where there is no punishment handed down for their criminal actions, there is nothing to stop them from continuing.
Portland is a great example of what happens.
Unfortunately, you read that correctly. Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt states that his position is not to prosecute and that the crimes that were committed by the rioters will be, get this, forgiven. In case you are wondering what those crimes are that he plans on forgiving, here’s a list: interfering with a police officer, disorderly conduct, criminal trespass, harassment, escape in the third degree, and riot.
You cannot make this up.
The attacks on police officers, and resisting arrest, will be assessed based on whether police “caused” the rioters to react. As if this doesn’t get more ridiculous by the minute, Schmidt said that rioters lash out because of the crowd-control measures that police have to use.
Schmidt stated:
“The instinctive reaction of people who have been gassed repeatedly, who have been struck with kinetic projectile weapons and who have seen other protesters arrested in ways they deeply disapprove of.”
Schmidt told the Oregon Public Broadcasting that his attorneys will review all of the cases and figure out what the intent of the protester was. They will determine if their intent was to injure a police officer or resist arrest.
He goes on to announce that if, for example, assaults on police officers or resisting arrest occurred when police were doing their “jobs” or were clearing an area with tear gas, he would consider dropping the charges.
This is something we must review and wonder why it is happening. These are areas damaged by fire, vandalism, and violent behavior.
This is not because police were called to bring order and disperse crowds. Schmidt’s insertion of his opinion that this is “instinct” is not his job. His job is to figure out if laws were broken.
Unless he is a psychiatrist in addition to a lawyer, how can he figure out what a person’s “instinct” is?
Probable cause generally refers to the requirement in criminal law. If police have adequate reason to arrest someone relating to an alleged crime, they are doing their job. Probable cause for an arrest exists when facts and circumstances within the police officer’s knowledge would lead a reasonable person to believe that the suspect has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.
That leaves little room for opinion.
On July 7, The Oregonian reported that the Portland Police and Multnomah County Sheriff’s deputies had filed court documents that gave a day-by-day account of their protest response over a six week period. This court document contained videos that showed the violence, and photos of damaged property and broken windows to courthouses and businesses.
Authorities estimated the damage and repair costs to public buildings at $300,000, and to businesses at $4.8 million. Added to the total cost of damage to the city, including private businesses and looting, that estimate was $23 million in early July.
The amount of damage caused in this city and the lack of support police have is disgusting. On June 9, U.S. District Court Judge Marco A. Hernandez issued a temporary restraining order restricting Portland Police from using tear gas except if lives or public safety are at risk.
On June 26, he amended the order, adding less-lethal weapons to the restrictions and banning the use of an ear-splitting signal, or LRAD-type devices.
Many of the daytime rallies were peaceful, but police have declared civil disturbances and riots for over two months straight as smaller groups have regularly thrown objects, broken windows, spray-painted graffiti, and targeted the Justice Center downtown, nearby buildings and businesses, and police offices in North Portland.
They have set fire to the police union building multiple times.
According to PJ Media, and as reported by Night Shift Commander Tony Passadore, the dumpster flames and a firework that landed on the precinct’s roof prompted police to use tear gas to clear the crowd.
One video showed a motorist exit his car and aim his handgun at the federal courthouse on Southwest Third Avenue in downtown Portland late on July 3 as innocent observers shouted, “Gun, gun, gun!”
The city filed a spreadsheet identifying 144 fires that were reported to emergency dispatch from May 29 through the morning of July 2, which were all attributed to civil unrest.
Schmidt’s message to Portland is that he welcomes civil unrest and further violence. He told reporters at a news conference that those caught by police while “only” “protesting” will not be prosecuted.
This means that, among other things, violating curfew during civil unrest will no longer be prosecuted.
This message is irresponsible to the city and its residents. This city has seen 75 or more days of riots, and this means that Schmidt is telling the rioters that they will not be held accountable for their violent behavior, their destruction of the city, and their criminal behavior. It is apparently open season in Portland, and criminals are being rewarded with trophies.