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Caribbean Life, April 14-20, 2022
By Ethan Stark-Miller
Amid continuing gun violence across
the city, Mayor Eric Adams Monday commended
President Joe Biden’s new rules
requiring makers of ghost guns include
serial numbers on gun kits and the nomination
of former U.S. Attorney Steve Dettelbach
to lead the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Adams called on Congress to set politics
aside and quickly appoint Dettelbach as
the new ATF director.
“In order to best approach this effort,
we need to dam the river of gods and
ghost guns that are flowing into the sea
of violence in our city,” Adams said. “And
the ATF needs a permanent director. And
Congress should expeditiously move forward
and appoint a permanent director to
deal with this critical process that we are
facing. I hope a position of this importance
will secure bipartisan partnership because
when a bullet leaves the barrel of a gun, it
doesn’t ask the victim if they’re Democrat
or Republican. They maim, they take life
and they destroy families in the process.”
The mayor said ghost guns – guns that
can be assembled from a kit and don’t have
a serial number – are not taken seriously
enough and pose an even greater threat
than other kinds of firearms. It was a
ghost gun, Adams said, that took the life of
16-year-old Angellyh Yambo last Friday.
“Ghost guns are one of the biggest
threats to public safety that we face today,”
Adams said. “Ghost guns are untraceable.
They are just as deadly as any other gun,
any other firearm. People often believe
that because they are ghost guns, they
are not deadly, that is just not true. They
should be treated as such. And we must
prosecute those who are in possession of
them just as we prosecute those who are
illegally in possession of firearms across
this country. No one should be able to
build a gun in their home in 30 minutes,
(it’s) unacceptable.”
bond.
“As Lieutenant Governor, Kathy Hochul
denied knowledge or awareness of Andrew Cuomo’s
(former New York Governor wrongdoing,”
said Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants.
“Now, she’s repeating the same posture
and strategy with her own Lieutenant.
“Either she’s consistently shamefully out of
the loop, or shamefully enabling through her
inaction,” he added. “And, either way, it’s clear
that, unless we elect leadership outside of the
old ways of Albany, these patterns of scandal
and corruption will keep repeating.
“Throughout our campaign, we’ve highlighted
Law enforcement officers work at the scene of a shooting at a subway station in
the Brooklyn borough of New York City, New York, U.S., April 12, 2022. REUTERS/
Eduardo Munoz
how the Hochul administration represented
Albany’s dysfunctional status quo,” Williams
continued. “She claims to have cleaned up
the Capitol (Albany). But just this week, with
historic handouts to Buffalo billionaires, donordriven
scandals and resignation, it’s never felt
more familiar, or more clear, that we need drastic
change.”
Hochul said in a brief statement late Tuesday
that she was accepting Benjamin’s resignation
“effective immediately.”
“While the legal process plays out, it is clear
to both of us that he cannot continue to serve
as Lieutenant Governor,” said Hochul, who had
appointed Benjamin, a former New York State
Senator, representing Harlem, last August.
“New Yorkers deserve absolute confidence in
their government, and I will continue working
every day to deliver for them.”
In announcing the charges against Benjamin,
along with Michael J. Driscoll, the Assistant
Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and
Jocelyn E. Strauber, Commissioner of the New
York City Department of Investigation (“DOI”),
Damian Williams, whose father is a Jamaicanborn
physician, said that the former New York
Lieutenant Governor is also charged with two
counts of falsifying records in connection with
the preparation of contribution forms that falsely
reported certain contributions made by CC-1
as being made by other individuals.
By Nelson A. King
Caribbean American legislators and
community organizations said on Tuesday
that they were “sickened” and “devastated,”
among other superlatives, after an unidentified
gunman, still at large, shot 10 commuters
on a subway train in Sunset Park,
Brooklyn during the morning rush hour.
New York police said that, besides the 10
commuters struck by gunfire, five of whom
were critically injured, at least 13 others
sustained injuries related to smoke inhalation,
falls or panic attacks.
Police said the assailant, who fled the
scene after the attack, donned a gas mask,
threw two smoke grenades on the floor the
train and fired 33 shots, as the N train,
full with commuters heading to Manhattan,
approached the 36th Street station in
Sunset Park.
“I am sickened by the subway shooting in
Brooklyn this morning,” Haitian American
New York State Assembly Member, Rodneyse
Bichotte-Hermelyn told Caribbean
Life on Tuesday.
“The devastating footage shows that,
even through this horror, New Yorkers are,
once again, banding together to help one
another,” added Bichotte Hermelyn, the
chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party,
who represents the 42nd Assembly District
in Brooklyn.
“We are a community. We will help our
neighbors,” continued the daughter of Haitian
immigrants. “While we wait for information
in this active investigation, please
stay alert. I am praying for those wounded
and their loved ones.”
Another daughter of Haitian immigrants,
New York City Council Member, Farah N.
Louis, said she was “devastated” by Tuesday
morning’s “tragic violence.”
“I commend emergency and safety personnel
for their prompt response to aid
victims and straphangers,” said Louis, who
represents the 45th Council District in
Brooklyn. “My thoughts and prayers are
with the victims and their families and the
Sunset Park community.”
Caribbean American New York City Public
Advocate, Jumaane Williams said that
while much remains unclear and the situation
is ongoing, “we know that New Yorkers
were terrorized” Tuesday morning, “as
their daily lives were struck by violence
and fear.
“I pray for everyone injured in this tragedy,
for the people who witnessed this
attack, and for the entire community and
city,” he told Caribbean Life. “I’m speaking
with law enforcement and community
members on the scene to provide comfort,
promote strength and get answers.”
Queens Borough President Donovan
Richards, Jr., who traces his roots to Jamaica,
described the attack as “senseless, horrific
and clearly premeditated.”
New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Caribbean American politicians ‘sickened,
devastated’ by subway shooting in Sunset Park
Williams criticizes Hochul
Mayor Adams
commends Biden
on new ghost
gun regulations
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