Leaders call for an
end to gun violence
in southeast Queens
BY JACOB KAYE
Elected officials from across Queens came together in Roy
Wilkins Park to call for a united front against the recent uptick
of gun violence in the borough on Sunday, July 19.
Led by District Attorney Melinda Katz and Acting Borough
President Sharon Lee, the peace rally aimed it sights toward deescalation
and unifying behind one message: stop the violence.
Katz and Lee were joined by elected officials from southeast
Queens including Congressman Gregory Meeks, state Senators
Leroy Comrie and James Sanders, Assembly members Clyde
Vanel, Alicia Hyndman and Vivian Cook, and City Council
members Donovan Richards, I. Daneek Miller, Adrienne Adams
and Rory Lancman.
A handful of community groups and local organizations also
attended Sunday’s rally.
The summer has seen an increase in shootings across the
city, including in southeast Queens, where shooting incidents
are up by 360 percent this month when compared to July 2019,
according to the NYPD. While gun violence is on the rise, there
has only been one murder in all of south Queens in the same
time period, according to the NYPD’s crime tracker, CompStat.
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.10 COM | JULY 24-JULY 30, 2020