The 3-month-old baby was unharmed, New York police said. The woman is believed to be the child’s mother, several law enforcement officials told CNN. Authorities determined she was temporarily living in a building several blocks away, on 104th East Street, which is a women’s shelter, one official said.
Authorities are now looking for the shooter – a man who walked out of the scene down 95th Street in a black hooded sweatshirt and black tracksuit pants, they said. The shooting was reported shortly after 8:20 p.m. near the intersection with Lexington Avenue, police said.
“A woman is pushing a pram around the island and shooting it in the face. It shows how this national problem is affecting families,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told a conference call. press Wednesday night, finally referring to “the oversaturation of weapons and dangerous people who repeatedly leave our criminal justice system.”
“It doesn’t matter if you’re on the Upper East Side or the east of New York, Brooklyn,” he said.
Investigators learned of the child’s age and details about the woman from domestic incident reports in which her name appears, the official said. Reports include her name, those listed as ex-boyfriends and the name of a second child who was not with her at the time of the shooting, an official said. His name has not been made public.
The exact cause of death will depend on the city’s forensic doctor, but a preliminary investigation determined the woman suffered a single bullet wound to the right temple of a bullet that came out and was recovered from a parked car. nearby, the official said.
The assassination comes amid rising national political attention to armed violence following recent high-profile shootings, including massacres at a New York State supermarket and a Texas elementary school. Last weekend, President Joe Biden signed the first major federal gun safety law passed in decades.
The assassination of the Upper East Side also comes when the mayor of New York has pushed to thwart armed violence. Adams, along with city and state law enforcement, announced Wednesday just hours before they will file lawsuits against phantom weapons retailers in this regard.
Although shootings and homicides have dropped year after year in New York, they still live up to an increase that began in 2020. The city recorded 624 shootings this year through Sunday, down from 710 in the same period of 2021, city statistics show. . The killings were 197 incidents between 2022 and Sunday, down from 226 in the same period last year, figures show. The main crimes together in the city, which include murder, rape, robbery, assault and robbery. they rose nearly 38 percent this year from Sunday, compared to the same time interval last year, according to city statistics. Adams presented in January a “Plan to End Armed Violence” that includes long-term goals to increase economic opportunities, improve early childhood education and provide more access to mental health resources while addressing the crisis of weapons. Also just hours before Wednesday’s shooting, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a legislative package aimed at tightening gun laws in the state. The Democratic governor’s decision responded to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that overturned a 100-year-old New York State gun law that limited carrying a concealed handgun outside the home.
The proposed concept includes a number of protections that extend restrictions on open arms transportation to sensitive locations, including federal, state, and local government buildings, health and medical facilities, as well as daycares, parks, zoos, playgrounds and public transportation, Hochul said. Wednesday. Educational institutions and places of worship would also be protected under the measure.
“The Supreme Court’s decision was a setback for us, but I would call it a temporary setback,” he said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Hochul expects to sign the legislation Thursday after convening a special legislative session, he said.
Other gun control efforts are underway in the state, including lawsuits filed by New York City and the New York Attorney General’s Office against 10 companies that sell parts for so-called ghost weapons, they said. officials. The legal action aims to hold distributors accountable for the proliferation of mail order components used to make non-locable weapons that lead to gunfire.