NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd August, 2021) New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday announced plans to "take down" armed gangs to stem a surfeit of gun violence after ten people were shot in just one area in the Bronx district over the weekend.
"Just last Saturday, we saw a painful example of ten people, ten people shot in the 115th Precinct," de Blasio said. "What is very troubling is that detectives are telling us already that it's gang-related. We know so much of the problem has to do with gangs in the Bronx. You're going to be hearing a lot more about gang takedowns as we need to get many violent individuals off the streets."
New York State last month declared a state of emergency against gun violence, with Governor Andrew Cuomo signing into law a bill that enables suing firearms makers for being a public nuisance.
More people died from shootings in New York than from COVID-19 over the Independence Day weekend on July 4, with 51 shooting fatalities compared to 13 deaths from the novel coronavirus.
Gun violence in New York has surged even as other crimes such as rape, robbery and larceny are at their lowest since at least 2015, data showed.
