Shooting at scene of vigil is part of wave of New York City gun violence

In another example of the explosion of gun violence that has gripped New York City, a man was shot and wounded Monday while attending a vigil for two teens killed a day earlier in a drive-by shooting, a law enforcement official said.

The 22-year-old man was shot in the shoulder at the vigil and is expected to survive, the official said.

The drive-by shooting at a park in Brooklyn on Sunday was among 39 shooting incidents that occurred from Friday until Sunday which resulted in 46 victims, including the teenagers who were killed, police said.

Detectives are trying to determine whether Sunday’s shooting also follows a trend they’re seeing in New York City of more drive-by shootings. Gang members are now renting or borrowing cars to use in shootings, the official said.

New York City is among other major cities that have seen an uptick in gun violence that also coincides with community tension, lockdowns related to Covid-19, and the normal increase in violence during the summer months, according to law enforcement officials.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD officials have previously pointed to a litany of reasons for the increase in crime, which they say includes offenders being released from jail, non-prosecutions by district attorneys, police reforms which have made officers hesitant to make arrests, and the effect of Covid-19.

As part of a way to address the violence, the NYPD unveiled a strategy that included sending more police officers to areas where the violence has persisted.

“It’s a perfect storm where we’ve seen so much dislocation in this city, so much pain, so much frustration, and in the middle of all that we don’t even have the normal things that we depend on to make sure we can stop violence, like a functioning court system,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took aim at the court system at a news conference on Tuesday.

“We need to see follow through on the prosecutions because a lot of these are individuals who, if we had the normal full function — this is everyone and NYPD, prosecutors, judges, court system — if everything was functioning normally some of the people committing the violence would not be out on the street,” de Blasio said. “This is the missing link to really getting some of these folks who are doing the most violence off the streets.”

In response, tcity Office of Court Administration spokesman Lucian Chalfen said the court system has been working to reestablish full court operations, including jury trials.

“Without offering any specifics, the Mayor blithely asks us to call in thousands of people a week Citywide for jury duty,” Chalfen said in a statement. “He constantly demonstrates that he has absolutely no understanding of how the criminal justice process works.”

The mayor’s press secretary, Bill Neidhardt, countered that the courts have responded with “petty insults” and “continued inaction.”

“We need the courts fully open,” Neidhardt said in a statement. “It’s possible to do safely and it’s passed time to get it done.”

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also addressed the increase in violence on Tuesday, saying he found the shootings “deeply disturbing” and stressing that the solution is not federal troops sent by President Trump.

“I believe the prosecutors, the district attorneys, also feel political pressure in this moment, but they cannot let that interfere with how they charge a case. They are there to enforce the law. Enforce the law,” Cuomo said. “There’s a difference between people who are peaceful protesters — where DAs have said they wanted to show leniency, which I understand and I support. It’s different than a person who looted, or a person with a gun, and they should not be playing politics in how they charge a case.”

Detectives on Tuesday were at the park in Brooklyn where gunfire erupted the night before. Investigators found 10 shell casings and are still working to identify a motive for the shooting, though they expect it to be gang related, the official said.

On Sunday, the two teenagers, identified by the NYPD as Kleimer P. Mendez, 16, and Antonio Villa, 18, were playing basketball when a gunman, who was standing through the sunroof of an SUV, opened fire as the car sped down the street, police said.

Mendez was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Villa was rushed to a nearby hospital where he could not be saved, police said. A 17-year-old boy was also struck in the leg, according to police.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison tweeted out surveillance video showing the gunman opening fire from the sunroof of the late model Honda CRV.