NEW YORK – A 19-year-old boy recovers in hospital Tuesday after he was shot at an Upper West Side basketball tournament attended by young children and their families.
The victim told police that he was playing basketball at the Amsterdam housing complex around 9 p.m. when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left arm. It is unclear where the bullet came from, but the teenager is expected to recover.
Investigators are now trying to determine what led someone to open fire in the middle of a community event that takes place every year. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer said the basketball coach was upset about the shooting because “he had never had this problem.”
Since the spring of 2020, the number of shootings has skyrocketed in New York City. At least 687 people were wounded or killed by gunfire as of June 6. That is 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.
“I’ve been coming here for 20 years. He wants to keep young people busy. Amazingly, he has a full-time job and he does it as a volunteer,” Brewer said.
Monday’s shooting comes just one day after a tourist in Times Square became the latest victim of gun violence in all five boroughs.
– .
