5
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 22-28, 2022
Sidewalk artist
leaves messages of
love after attack
One hopeful Sunset Park resident left colorful messages on the sidewalk
after the April 12 36th Street subway station attack. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
BY KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
The day after gunman attacked
straphangers in a busy
Sunset Park subway station,
commuters streamed in and
out of the transit hub, which
had fully resumed operations
after lines were shut down in
the aftermath of the attack.
Early on April 12, a perp
fired multiple rounds and detonated
a smoke grenade as a
packed N train pulled into the
36th Street station, injuring
23 people and leaving ten with
gunshot wounds. The Police
Department’s prime suspect,
62-year-old Frank James, was
arrested in the East Village
on April 13 in connection to
the chaos.
Sunset Park was left
stunned and still in the aftermath
of the attack, with
service through the station
halted as the New York City
Police Department and federal
agents investigated the
crime. By Wednesday morning,
the caution tape was down
and the station was filled with
students and commuters once
again. An NYPD truck and a
number of cops spent the day
monitoring the area, overseeing
riders as they headed up
and down the station steps.
Somewhere in the midst of
the chaos, as state and city officials
urged New Yorkers to
be both vigilant and resilient
in the face of a sudden tragedy,
a sidewalk chalk artist
took the time to write out colorful
messages of support for
those attempting to return to
their everyday routines.
“Fear Stops Here,” reads
one of the colorful chalk messages
etched onto the sidewalk.
“Together, we will not
let the devil darken our Sunset,”
says another.
The array of encouragements
is signed by Hans Honschar,
who regularly leaves
those words of love and encouragement
on New York
City’s sidewalks.
Straphangers paused to
read and snap pictures of
the neatly-written messages,
which the artist had faced in
different directions so pedestrians
headed toward or away
from the station from all angles
could see them. Honschar
outlined “NYPD” in a purple
heart, and honored his fellow
New Yorkers, writing “You
may try to kill us, but you will
never kill our New York Spirit.”
James is will be arraigned
on terrorism charges in federal
court on Thursday. In the
wake of the attack, Mayor Eric
Adams vowed to continue to
make the city safer, calling
on state and federal authorities
to work together to crack
down on illegal firearms.
“This sea of violence
comes from many rivers,”
Adams said the night of the
attack. “We must dam every
river that feeds the greater
crisis. That is the work of my
life, this administration, and
this police department. I will
not stop until the peace we deserve
becomes the reality we
experience.”
in our city, this is unacceptable,”
said District 51 district leader
Arelis Martinez. “Gun violence,
our subway station attacks every
day and then taking to the next
level, a mass shooting in our district.
We don’t feel safe anymore.”
Since the attack, New Yorkers
have had to worry about taking
their daily subway ride to and
from work and school, Martinez
said. She urged city and state officials
to take steps to curb crime.
“We are in panic, the whole
city is in panic,” Martinez said.
“We need to save more life and
the only way we can do this is doing
prevention and intervention.”
Mitaynes said speaking
openly about issues with mental
health — which can stem from
violent events or lead to such violence
— is critical to healing and
prevention.
“The most important thing
for us is just acknowledging what
happened and just starting to
talk about it so we can begin to
heal,” she said. “It became apparent
to a lot of people who came to
support to really understand and
see how vulnerable this working
class community is. Mental
health isn’t a very big topic so
just the fact that we are talking
about it and acknowledging it is
a huge step in the right direction,
and figuring out how we begin to
feel as individuals and as a community.”
She said Saturday’s event also
aimed to connect residents with
mental health resources that already
exist in Sunset Park for the
community to utilize.
“Mental health is something
we don’t talk about enough and
that’s going to start changing,”
Mitaynes said, “We want to provide
resources and be able to connect
people with services that already
exist here.”
Beside the 36th Street station
on Monday, Wai Yee Chan, executive
director of local nonprofit
Homecrest Community Services,
recalled a harrowing day for a
friend of hers, who was trapped in
the subway car as shots rang out.
“A quiet morning soon became
a war zone,” Chan said. “He
only lost his glasses and was able
to make it home and unite with
his family … however, this trip
became the worst pain of his entire
life.”
Assemblymember Rodneyse
Bichotte Hermelyn said she and
her fellow lawmakers are focused
on preventing the flow of illegal
firearms into New York City.
“As an Assembly we’ve been
working really, really hard making
sure that we pass anti-gun
laws that will prevent illegal
guns from coming into our community,”
she said at Monday’s
vigil. “It’s been a hard time for
us here in our neighborhoods
across the city of New York,
across the state of New York and
across the United States as we
see shootings rising. It’s a crime,
it’s a disease and we are standing
together to pray and fight and
combat against gun violence.”
On her way into the city one
week after the attack, Mitaynes
said the flowers placed at the station
are beautiful symbol of what
Sunset Park stands for.
“It’s just a beautiful display
of flowers and it communicates
so much without having to say
anything,” Mitaynes said. “It’s
a reminder what happened, it’s
a reminder that we are going
through something, it’s a reminder
that we are doing this together.”
Additional reporting by
Kirstyn Brendlen
Top: Volunteers hand out free food and drinks to support
community members at Sunset Park’s “Day of Unity”
on April 16. The event sought to begin the process of
healing after last week’s horrific attacks. Right: District
Leader Arelis Martinez speaks at a community vigil outside
the 36th Street subway station.
Photos by Caroline Ourso and Paul Frangipane