New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, said Wednesday that the recent crime surge in the Big Apple is due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“In New York City, we’ve been the safest big city in America for years,” de Blasio told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. “We’ve had a very tough two months — no doubt — and it is directly related to the coronavirus — the dislocation it’s caused, the fact that our court system is not functioning yet, so many factors.”
WATCH:
New York City experienced a 130% increase in shootings, a 30% increase in murders and a 118% rise in burglaries in June, according to New York Police Department crime statistics.
Over the Fourth of July weekend, 64 people were shot and 10 died, The New York Times reported. A one-year-old died July 13 after a drive-by shooting in the city.
“The sharp increase in shootings and violence in New York puts innocent people at risk and tears at the fabric of life in our city,” NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said, according to an NYPD report.
In Portland, federal officers have reportedly detained demonstrators with unmarked vehicles after seven consecutive weeks of violence, according to The Guardian. (RELATED: Police: Tech CEO Found Decapitated And Hacked To Pieces In NYC)
Federal officers blanketed the area with tear gas, protestors form a phalanx and remain in the clouds pic.twitter.com/5E0NI2ZQQ9
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) July 22, 2020
“If one of these federal officers steps foot in New York City with the intention of denying the First Amendment rights of New Yorkers we will be in court immediately and we will win,” de Blasio told MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.
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