In the second week of March, two American cities found themselves braced against a shadow moving through their most fragile streets. A gunman, still unidentified, has been firing on men who sleep without a roof in Washington and New York, leaving at least two dead. The mayors of both cities have asked the homeless to come indoors, a plea that lands heavily in places already strained by rising violence and the long aftermath of a pandemic. It is an old human pattern: those with the least shelter are often the first to be made into targets, and the rest of the city is left to wonder how close th
Police in New York and D.C. Hunt Gunman Targeting Homeless Men; at Least Two Killed in Week-Long Spree
At least five homeless men were shot, and at least two died in the attacks across the two cities.
Someone is out there deliberately doing harm to an already vulnerable population.
Mark
What exactly do we know about these shootings?
Mimi
At least five homeless men were shot between March 3 and 9 in D.C. and over the weekend in New York. At least two have died: one in each city.
Luke
And the thread connecting them? The mayors say one person is behind it, but that's their joint statement, not a charge or a police finding I can see here.
Mimi
Fair. The attacker is described as an unknown male with a semi-automatic handgun in New York. The reporting treats the link as the mayors' position.
Mark
Why does the shelter appeal matter so much?
Mimi
It's the only immediate protection on offer. The mayors asked people living on the street to go indoors while the search continues.
Luke
But that asks people to rely on the same system they may avoid. Do we know how many would actually go?
Mimi
No. The piece gives no figures on that.
Mark
What about the subway numbers?
Mimi
In the first week of Adams's plan, 455 people were removed from the subway and 22 were placed in shelters. Nobody knows how many of the 455 were homeless.
Luke
So that ratio can't be read as a success rate. And the crime increases, 20 per cent in D.C. and 14 per cent in New York shootings, are context, not an explanation for these attacks.
Le Pouls
- At least five men experiencing homelessness were shot across Washington and New York in a single week, with at least two of them dead.
- Police in both cities are hunting a suspect believed to be using a semi-automatic handgun, and no arrest has yet been made.
- Mayors Adams and Bowser have urged people sleeping outside to seek shelter while their own crime numbers climb, violent crime up 20 percent in D.C. and shootings up 14 percent in New York.
- Fear is spreading through an already vulnerable population, and the outcome now hinges on whether the shooter is caught and whether outreach to people on the street changes.
In the second week of March, two American cities found themselves braced against a shadow moving through their most fragile streets. A gunman, still unidentified, has been firing on men who sleep without a roof in Washington and New York, leaving at least two dead. The mayors of both cities have asked the homeless to come indoors, a plea that lands heavily in places already strained by rising violence and the long aftermath of a pandemic. It is an old human pattern: those with the least shelter are often the first to be made into targets, and the rest of the city is left to wonder how close the danger sits to its own doorstep.
Two mayors issued a joint warning this weekend: a gunman is targeting homeless men in Washington and New York, and the people most at risk should get indoors. Eric Adams and Muriel Bowser said their cities were working urgently to stop him before someone else is hurt or killed.
The timeline begins in Washington, where three men were shot between March 3 and March 9, one fatally. Over the weekend, at least two more men were shot in New York by an unknown man with a semi-automatic handgun, and at least one of them died. The mayors said the violence was deeply disturbing, especially because someone was deliberately targeting an already vulnerable group.
The attacks come at a difficult time for both administrations. Violent crime in D.C. is up 20 percent this year, and shootings in New York are up 14 percent, complicating efforts to bring tourists back after the pandemic. The warning carries extra weight in New York, where Adams recently unveiled a subway safety plan aimed at clearing homeless people from the transit system, with outreach teams placing only a small number in shelters so far.
For now, the questions are simple: will police identify and arrest the shooter, and will the two cities change how they reach people who sleep outside while he remains free?
Two mayors put out a joint statement this weekend with a single message: a gunman is targeting homeless men in two cities, and the people most at risk should get indoors. Eric Adams of New York City and Muriel Bowser of Washington, D.C., said they were working urgently to take the person off the street before he hurts or kills someone else.
Police in both cities are searching for the suspect, who is believed to have shot at least five men experiencing homelessness. The timeline, as the mayors described it, begins in Washington. Between March 3 and March 9, three men were shot there, and one of them died. Over the past weekend, at least two more men were shot in New York City by an unknown male carrying a semi-automatic handgun, and at least one of them died. That puts the toll at no fewer than two dead among at least five shot.
The mayors did not hide their alarm at the pattern. They said the rise in gun violence had shaken everyone, and that it was particularly horrible to know someone was deliberately harming an already vulnerable population. They called on residents living on the street to seek shelter.
The shootings land at a hard moment for both administrations. Each mayor has dealt with high-profile outbursts of violence and with increases in certain categories of crime, which have complicated efforts to draw tourists back and restart economies after the pandemic. In Washington, violent crime is up 20 per cent so far this year compared with the same stretch of 2021. In New York City, shooting incidents are up 14 per cent. Over the same weekend, a man denied entry to the Museum of Modern Art stabbed two employees at the reception desk on Saturday afternoon. NYPD officials said at a press conference that his membership had lapsed after two incidents of disorderly conduct.
The population at risk is large in both places. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, D.C. and New York state have among the highest rates of homelessness in the country. A D.C. point-in-time count found the number of sheltered homeless people has dropped slightly over the past few years, but unsheltered homelessness rose by more than four per cent, to 681 people. New York City has also seen its share of people in the shelter system dip slightly over recent fiscal years, and a January 2021 survey counted nearly 2,400 people experiencing unsheltered homelessness on the city's streets and in the subway. Even so, the number of single adults in the city's shelters has nearly doubled since fiscal 2012, to an average of 16,591 a day.
The warning to seek shelter carries extra weight in New York because of Adams's subway policy. In February he unveiled a safety plan that aims to clear homeless people from the transit system. His administration has promised to enforce rules against sleeping on trains, using small teams of social workers to connect people with services alongside a larger police presence. In the first week, 455 people were removed from the system, though it is not clear how many were homeless. The outreach teams placed 22 people in shelters.
What to watch now is simple: whether police identify and arrest the shooter, and whether the two cities change how they reach people who sleep outside while he remains at large.
Citations marquantes
The work to get this individual off our streets before he hurts or murders another individual is urgent.— Mayors Eric Adams and Muriel Bowser, joint statement
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