On a day when two teens in the city were shot, one of whom was killed, groups rallied to denounce gun violence in NYC as the five boroughs were in the midst of a continuing spike in shootings.
More people were shot after groups in East Harlem and Brooklyn took to the streets on Tuesday to speak out against the rash of shootings and violence that has swept over the city in recent weeks. Mayor Bill de Blasio joined the rally in East Harlem, calling on the community to band together.
"The people who mean to do violence do not represent us. The people who mean to harm their fellow human beings do not speak for us, act for us," de Blasio told the crowd. "We will take back our streets in this city."
The mayor's comments came despite criticism from law enforcement circles that his administration is responsible for the uptick in violence. There has also been criticism from President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday said that the city "got rid of their legendary crime squad and bad things are happening in New York."
Local and community leaders continue to voice their concerns over the rash of gun violence.
"We say to our young brothers and sisters: You don't want to be the generation that kills more of each other, than the KKK killed of us," protester Charles Barron said to the crowd marching in Brooklyn.
One of the teens shot on Tuesday was struck by gunfire just a few blocks from the Harlem rally. The 19-year-old was fighting for his life at the hospital after being shot in the head on West 109th Street in Manhattan Valley around 9 p.m.
Earlier on Tuesday, a 15-year-old was shot and killed after getting into an argument with his step-father. The teen and 34-year-old fired at each other at a home in Far Rockaway, police said, killing one another with gunshots to each other's torso.
The demonstrations came in the wake of two shootings in the city, and just a day after gunfire erupted in Brooklyn that left five people hurt — part of a day that featured 18 people injured in 14 shootings throughout the city.
Hours after the marches, police in Brooklyn say two shootings left one person dead and five people wounded. Authorities are investigating whether the shootings that occurred around 2 a.m. Wednesday on President Street in Crown Heights were connected. Three men and a woman were wounded there. In the other shooting, a man was killed and another woman was shot in the leg.
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Another "Stop the Violence" marc is expected Wednesday at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn where participants will walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall.
Statistics from the shootings show that not only are minority communities overwhelmingly the victims of the shootings, but also that children, teens and young adults make up a large portion of those injured or killed.
From the beginning of 2020 through July 12, there were 53 children shot versus 37 during the same period last year. Among the most recent victims was a 1-year-old baby, with police still searching for the suspects seen in a surveillance video. There have also been 215 shooting victims ages 18-24 during the same period this year, compared to 125 in 2019.
When it comes to young adults ages 25-30, the NYPD statistics show that 223 have been shot this year, compared to 123 during the same period last year. Meanwhile, 185 adults 31- to 40-years-old were shooting victims from Jan. 1 to July 12 this year, an increase from the 97 victims from this age group seen last year.
Overall, in a little over seven months, from Jan 1. to July 12 of this year, there have been 115 fatal shooting victims and 662 non-fatal shooting victims. This is an increase from the 69 shooting deaths and the 387 non-fatal shooting victims seen during the same time period last year, according to the NYPD.
