On Monday, two men were killed by career criminals in separate instances in New York City.
In Queens around 6 p.m. on Monday, two officers noticed a vehicle parked illegally and began approaching the car to conduct a routine traffic stop. The individual in the passenger seat then began opening fire on the officers, shooting and killing New York Police Department officer, Jonathan Diller.
The identities of the 41-year-old male driver and the 34-year-old suspect have not yet been released; however, it has been reported that the male gunman had 21 prior arrests for criminal possession of a controlled substance and first-degree assault. The driver was also previously arrested on a gun charge less than one year ago but was quickly released from custody.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters following the officers’ death, “This is what you call not a crime problem, a recidivist problem. Same bad people doing bad things to good people. Less than a year, he’s back on the streets with another gun.”
On the same day at approximately 7 p.m., a commuter was pushed onto subway tracks in an unprovoked attack by an “emotionally disturbed” individual who was reportedly out on bond from an assault charge in October 2023.
The victim was hit and killed by an oncoming underground train which was not able to stop in time. The New York Post reported that the number of felony assaults in the New York subway system “jumped 53% last year from pre-pandemic times, with 570 such attacks in 2023 compared to 373 in 2019.” The outlet suggests that mental illness is a contributing factor; however, many perpetrators have been repeat offenders not imprisoned in the city or state.
In an interview with NBC News, NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said that officers “arrest people all the time that have 50-plus arrests, 100-plus arrests.”
Despite preliminary FBI data that has suggested a nationwide decrease in crime, certain cities have been severely affected by an epidemic of career criminals who seem to slip through the justice system.
Following the surge in subway violence, New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office revealed a “Five-Point Plan” to make the underground transit safer for residents and visitors of the city, which included deploying members of state police agencies and the National Guard to assist NYPD officers with bag checks and surveillance of the subway system.
