Manhattan has been the scene of two separate fatal shootings yesterday night, occurring within 90 minutes of each other in the neighborhoods of Hell's Kitchen and Chelsea. According to the Gothamist, a man was shot in the head on West 42nd Street near the Port Authority Bus Terminal at approximately 10:45 p.m. Police found the victim in critical condition before he succumbed to his injuries at Bellevue Hospital. As of now, authorities have not apprehended the suspect described only as a male dressed in all-black.
Earlier that evening, the NYPD had responded to another assault outside a building at NYCHA’s Fulton Houses. There, 21-year-old Raqiese Cohen was discovered unconscious with a gunshot wound to his neck. The ABC7NY reports that Cohen was transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. This incident, happening around 9:20 p.m., currently has no suspects in custody as investigations continue.
These violent events unfolded against a backdrop of declining homicides and shootings in New York City. The NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams recently highlighted that such crimes had reached record lows this year through May. In fact, this week's shootings marked the first homicides this year in the respective precincts, a stark contrast to the single homicide recorded in the 10th Precinct last year and the four total homicides in the Midtown South Precinct by the end of 2024, as per NYPD data shared by the Gothamist.
With summer approaching, a seasonal upswing in crime is anticipated. The NYPD is addressing the potential rise in violence by deploying an additional 1,500 officers on foot patrol across neighborhoods in the evenings when crime tends to spike. "In 2020 and 2021 we had shootings approaching 1,600, they went down to 1,200, went down to 900, went down to 800, and now we're approaching the best numerical statistical year we've had in the police department," said Chief of Department John Chell, NYPD, as reported by ABC7NY.
