What to Know
- An upstate Marine in NYC for a baptism was shot while walking with his family in Times Square Sunday; he was not the intended target
- Sunday's gun violence marked the second daytime shooting in Times Square in two months; the latest victim is expected to recover
- Acknowledging the need to make the Crossroads of the World safer, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled Monday what he called the Times Square Safety Action Plan. It calls for deploying an extra 50+ police officers
Yet another innocent bystander was wounded by gunfire in the heart of Times Square over the weekend. Now the mayor is unveiling a new program to address what he describes as an "unacceptable state of affairs" regarding gun violence.
No arrests have been made in Sunday's shooting of a 21-year-old upstate Marine in town for a baptism who was wounded while walking through Times Square with his family. It wasn't far from where another gunman opened fire and also injured innocent bystanders less than two months ago.
The latest victim, identified as Samuel Poulin, is expected to recover. What would have been a joyous celebration could have ended in tragedy when someone shot Poulin in the back near the Marriott Marquis on Broadway around 5:15 p.m. A family member removed the bullet and handed it over to police.
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Investigators say the bullet wasn't meant for him.
Law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation told NBC New York that he was with his wife, his sister and his brother-in-law when he was struck by a bullet that came from a fight between two men.
A family member plucked the bullet out of the victim’s back and gave it to an officer, police said. No one else was hurt in the shooting.
Police on Monday released images of a man they're searching for in connection to the shooting. They say the person was last seen fleeing the scene eastbound on 45th Street toward 6th Avenue.
The gun violence has left tourists and locals alike on edge. Sunday's gunfire marked the second daytime shooting in Times Square in two months.
News
Three bystanders were struck by gunfire in May, including a 4-year-old child. The alleged gunman responsible for the May shooting was apprehended days later in Florida after fleeing the city.
Acknowledging the need to make the Crossroads of the World safer, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled Monday what he called the Times Square Safety Action Plan. That plan involves deploying another 50-plus officers to the area and increasing enforcement of illegal vending connected to gun violence, de Blasio said.
"Anyone who goes here will know they are safe," the mayor added. He said the stepped-up NYPD deployment began Sunday after the shooting and will continue.
"After this shooting and the shooting we had a couple weeks ago, it's very important that we put a lot more of a police presence over there," NYPD Chief of Department Rodney Harrison said at the mayor's Monday press conference.
Since the spring of 2020, the number of shootings across the city has soared. Through June 6, there were 181 homicides in New York City, up from 121 in the same period in 2019, an increase of 50%. That's the worst start to a year since 2011.
At least 687 people were wounded or killed by gunfire through June 6. That's not historically bad. More than 2,400 people were shot during the same period in 1993. But it is the highest number for a winter and early spring since 2000.
