Police presence up in wake of Times Sq. shooting
BY ALEJANDRA
O'CONNELL-DOMENECH
More NYPD offi cers will
guard Times Square
after three people,
including a child, were injured
during a shooting at the intersection
on Saturday, Mayor Bill de
Blasio said May 10.
The department will deploy
members of the Critical Response
Command, a division of the
NYPD focused on counterterrorism,
at the popular tourist
destination. It is unclear exactly
how many additional offi cers will
be deployed at the junction.
“We’re putting additional
NYPD resources in the Time
Square area to add an extra
measure of protection,” said de
Blasio. ” You’ll see an additional
presence. I think there may be
some other areas as well where
you’ll see that and it’s important
to show people that presence,
I think it is reassuring and
helpful.”
The mayor assured visitors
New York City is safe and argued
recent spikes in gun violence
The scene at Times Square following a shooting on May 8, 2021.
will go down as more pandemic
restrictions are lifted. “It is an
overwhelmingly safe city. When
you look at New York City
compared to cities around the
country, around the world, this
is a very safe place and there’s
more and more activity,” said de
Blasio. “The city is clearly coming
back. People are starting to
come here much earlier actually
than I thought they would. We’re
starting to see tourism come back
already. I thought it would go into
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
the summer before we’d see that
kind of come back.”
Last month, de Blasio promised
to fully reopen the city by July 1
roughly 15 months after the city
was fi rst shut down due to the
novel coronavirus.
On Monday, NYPD offi cers
identifi ed a suspect in Saturday’s
shooting, Farrakhan Muhammad,
who detectives believe was trying
to shoot his brother, according to
NBC News. Instead, the shooter
missed and struct a 4-year-old girl
in the leg as she was shopping for
toys with her family and two tourists
at the busy intersection.
De Blasio commended the
NYPD offi cers treated the victims
on Saturday, one of whom
sprinted to the injured child to
tie a small tourniquet around
her leg. “I want to thank all the
men and women of the NYPD
who immediately on the scene
to protect everyone there and to
address the situation,” said de
Blasio. “Thank God, the three
people who were hit by the gunfi
re are all out of the hospital and
it looks like they’ll make a strong
recovery.”
No arrests had been made as
this paper went to press Wednesday.
Anyone with information
regarding the shooting can call
Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS.
All calls and messages are kept
confi dential.
Schumer celebrates resurrection of beloved
Junior’s Cheesecake in Times Square
BY MARK HALLUM
Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer cut the ribbon on May 6 to
reopen a personal favorite of his –
Junior’s Cheesecake in Times Square made
its return with indoor dining.
Alan Rosen, the proprietor of the beloved
New York City staple that has been in
business for over 70 years, expressed relief
that their Times Square location would
persist 15 years after making its way to
Broadway.
“Our fl agship Brooklyn restaurant reopened
last June and our local community,
our employees and out government helped us
survive,” Rosen said. “It is not just that we are
reopening, it’s that more than 150 employees
are coming back. They’re the backbone of
Junior’s and I can’t thank them enough for
sticking with us and being here today.”
Schumer has been making the rounds
at well-known eateries across the city, an
effort to get the word out about grants now
available through the American Rescue Act
which can be applied for through the Small
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer with Junior’s Cheesecake owner
Alan Rosen (far right), staff and family members on May 6.
Business Administration.
“We did pass the RESTAURANTS Act,
as majority leaders, I get to decide what
bills I put on the fl oor of the Senate … and
it was bipartisan,” Schumer said. “Just on
Monday, they started making applications
available. So if you’re a restaurant in New
York, please apply. There are $28 billion,
you can get up to $5 million to keep your
restaurant open for six months. We know
our restaurants like Junior’s are our lifeblood.
They’re not just places to eat, they’re
community centers.”
According to Schumer, the funding
available through the act is superior to businesses
getting loan through the Paycheck
Protection Program which the federal
government launched at the height of the
pandemic in spring 2020.
At the end of April 2021, Governor Andrew
Cuomo announced that curfews for
indoor and outdoor dining would be lifted
as the the population of New York becomes
increasingly inoculated against COVID-19
which forced the city into hibernation
around starting in March of 2020.
Restaurants have seen brief respites from
the restrictions imposed by Governor Andrew
Cuomo through outdoor dining and
some indoor capacity.
Leaders in the restaurant industry, such
as NYC Hospitality Alliance Executive
Director Andrew Rigie, have argued that
the crackdown on businesses have not been
backed by science, proving or disproving
eateries as a vector for the disease.
4 May 13, 2021 Schneps Media