A young man was shot dead Thursday evening February 9 in New York, near Times Square, police announced, one of the emblematic tourist sites of the megalopolis where it is in principle forbidden to walk around armed.
Called urgently around 5:30 p.m. (22:30 GMT), the New York police (NYPD) rescued a 22-year-old man who was shot in the chest at the intersection of 8th Avenue and 44th Street in Manhattan, in front of a fast food.
Transported to the hospital,
"he succumbed to his injuries
," said a police spokesman by email.
“There were no arrests.
The investigation is continuing
,” added the same source.
According to the
New York Daily News
, relying on a witness on the spot, the young man was shot dead by two people who fled.
And according to this same source, the shootings caused a start of panic in this hypertourist district with
“a stampede of people trying to escape”
.
50 million visitors each year
Times Square is one of the most famous New York sites in the world: a crossroads and an esplanade in the heart of Manhattan, surrounded by giant electronic billboards lit day and night for the 50 million visitors who flock there each year. .
In principle, since September 1, it is forbidden to walk around armed in this whole district.
As part of the fight against crime and the proliferation of guns in New York, center-right mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, had put up dozens of signs “Times Square: Gun Free Zone” (“Zone no gun”) around the square.
After a surge in the number of firearm homicides in 2020 and 2021 in New York City, it fell in 2022 to 433 in a city of 8.5 million people and millions of visitors.
