New York prides itself on being one of the safest U.S. cities after lowering homicides to a fraction of what they were three decades ago, with law enforcement taking much of the credit. Now, a jump in shootings coupled with growing criticism over police brutality has eroded that confidence, and the city is turning to neighborhood groups outside of the usual system.
More than 300 people were shot in a month through mid-July, three times the total during the same period last year. One of them, 22-month-old Davell Gardner Jr., was killed in his stroller when shots were fired at a group during a Sunday night cook-out at a park in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. July’s final weekend toll: 34 shot and at least 10 dead, including two teenage boys playing basketball.
Read Full Article »