Two men were shot on the Upper East Side Sunday afternoon not far from a migrant shelter, the third shooting of its kind in as many weeks, authorities said.
Photo by Dean Moses
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Two men were shot on the Upper East Side Sunday afternoon not far from a migrant shelter, the third shooting of its kind in as many weeks, authorities said.
According to police sources, cops from the 23rd Precinct rushed to East 97th Street and Third Avenue where they found two 23-year-old men sustaining gunshot wounds. One man was shot in the right arm and hip, while the other was struck in the right knee. EMS whisked both victims to Cornell Hospital, where they are expected to survive.
Two men were shot on the Upper East Side Sunday afternoon not far from a migrant shelter, the third shooting of its kind in as many weeks, authorities said.Photo by Dean Moses
Cops say the gunmen donned black ski masks and fled on foot northbound on Third Avenue.
Police on the scene reported that they are still trying to determine if the bloodshed was related to the migrant shelter or the NYCHA Washington Houses, which are located across the street from one another.
Blood could be seen smeared across the sidewalk as police cordoned off the entire block amid the investigation.
Cops investigate a shooting in the Upper East Side.Photo by Dean Moses
No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information regarding this incident can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on X (formerly Twitter) @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
RANDALL’S ISLAND (WABC) — A woman was killed and two other people were injured in a shooting on Randall’s Island.
It happened near Field 71 just after 3:30 a.m. on Monday.
Police say the 44-year-old woman died after being shot in the face and back. She is believed to be a migrant from Venezuela.
Detectives believe the shooting stemmed from the robbery of a necklace. The victim was dancing and does not appear to be the intended target.
Many of those gathered on the field at the time of the shooting were Venezuelans, and the gathering appears to have started as a celebration of Sunday’s election results reelecting Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
A 31-year-old woman was shot in the lower back and a 32-year-old man was hit in the throat. They also taken to Harlem Hospital where they are in stable condition.
Police established two separate crime scenes on the island after first arriving to an area near the the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Their investigation led them to Field 7 near the city-run migrant shelter.
Authorities say they are looking for at least two men. One of the suspects fled on a moped and the other was able to get away in a vehicle with New Mexico license plates.
No arrests have been made.
Randall’s Island Park Alliances Summer Camp, a free program for 350 to 400 children 6-12 years old, was canceled Monday due to the shooting. It will also be canceled on Tuesday.
Police have logged rising complaints of general lawlessness around the shelter.
On Monday, police impounded more than a dozen unregistered cars and scooters linked to asylum seekers at the shelter.
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City Councilwoman Joann Ariola and State Assemblywoman Jaime Williams — who are suing to block Mayor Adams’ administration from housing migrants at Floyd Bennett Field — called on constituents Friday to come out for a “24/7 protest” at the defunct Brooklyn airstrip to make their “voices heard loud and clear on this matter.”
According to Ariola’s office, the demonstration will kick off at 4 p.m. Monday outside Floyd Bennett’s Runway 19, where construction is underway on a tent-style shelter expected to be able to house some 500 migrant families with kids. The plan is then to have a group of protesters large enough that shifts can be assigned so that there’s an around-the-clock presence every day thereafter, Ariola’s office said.
“Placing a shelter here would be wrong for the migrants, and it would be wrong for the people who enjoy the amenities at Floyd Bennett Field. This is the wrong decision all around, and we need to make our voices heard loud and clear on this matter,” Ariola, a Republican, said in a statement. “We need to stand as one strong, united, organized force. Together, we can stop this once and for all.”
City Council member Joann Ariola is pictured during a hearing on June 5, 2023. (Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News)
Ray Vann, a spokesman for Ariola, did not immediately have an idea of how many people they expect will show up. Ariola and Williams, a Democrat, are circulating an online signup form where constituents can register for protest duty.
Spokespeople for Adams did not immediately return requests for comment on the planned 24/7 initiative.
The Floyd Bennett migrant shelter site is drawing criticism for a variety of reasons.
Ariola, Williams and a group of other mostly Republican lawmakers are suing Adams’ administration in state court alleging the city’s violating zoning laws and development restrictions. The administration attempted to recently get the lawsuit moved to a federal court, as Floyd Bennett Field is mostly owned by the U.S. Department of Interior, but a judge ordered it back to state court, a move Ariola and her allies touted as a win for their cause.
The U.S. military airstrip, which stands largely unused, is located in a flood plain, and Republicans as well as Democrats have raised concerns about the safety of housing migrants in there.
Williams was at the site Friday afternoon and provided a photo showing large pools of water accumulating amid the moderate rainfall.
State Assemblywoman Jaime Williams speaks at a rally near Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York on Thursday, August 24, 2023 to protest a plan to house migrants at the facility. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)
Another issue that has stirred controversy is Adams’ announcement earlier this week that his administration plans to house migrant families with children at the Floyd Bennett facility even though it’s going to be a “congregate” shelter site. Under the city’s right-to-shelter mandate, which the administration is asking for court permission to suspend, it’s illegal to house homeless kids in congregate settings, and migrant advocates say the mayor could put minors at risk of sexual abuse and other dangers by doing so.
“Sheltering families with children in cramped and open cubicles at Floyd Bennett Field not only raises serious legal questions, but runs afoul of this administration’s previous statements to provide safe and appropriate shelter to this extremely vulnerable population,” the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless, which are fighting the administration’s attempted right-to-shelter rollback in court, said in a statement earlier this week. “Private rooms, not open cubicles, are needed to ensure the safety of families with children and to reduce the transmission of infectious disease, among other obvious reasons.”
