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Democratic New York Mayor Eric Adams declined to rule out terrorism as the motive for Tuesday morning’s mass shooting in Brooklyn during a CNN interview.
Adam’s comments undercut statements from Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, who told reporters that the attack was not an act of terrorism during a Tuesday press briefing. CNN anchor Dana Bash pressed Adams on how law enforcement had come to that decision so quickly, and he backed off of Sewell’s assertion.
“I think it’s still preliminary. It’s a preliminary investigation. This is terror — someone attempted to terrorize our system,” Adams stated. “They brought in what appears to be some form of smoke device. They discharged a weapon. And so I don’t want to be premature.”
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“I think at this time, the investigators are going to do their due diligence to properly identify what happened here. And so I think at this time, it’s premature to say exactly what happened here,” he added.
The manhunt for the gunman is still underway. Police have described the suspect as a black male roughly 5 feet, 5 inches tall and weighing 175-200 pounds. He was reportedly wearing a construction vest at the time of the shooting.
This photo provided by Will B Wylde, a person is aided outside a subway car in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
(Will B Wylde via AP)
Adams entered office on promises to address the city’s surging crime rate, a trend that has only worsened since his inauguration in January.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed that “the entire resources in our state” will be devoted to reversing the crime surge.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
(Jimin Kim/VIEWpress via Getty Images)
“The people of the entire state of New York stand with the people of this city and this community, and we say ‘No more,'” Hochul said. “No more mass shootings, no more disrupting lives, no more creating heartbreak for people just trying to live their lives as normal New Yorkers.”
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“It has to end, and it ends now. We are sick and tired of reading headlines about crime, whether they’re mass shootings, or the loss of a teenage girl, or a 13-year-old. It has to stop,” she continued.
At least 28 people were injured in the shooting, though there have been no reported deaths.
