FORT GREENE — Elected officials and community groups on Friday called for added security and an end to gun violence at the city’s public housing complexes, a day after an unidentified woman was gunned down at the Walt Whitman Houses.
Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo, Assemblyman Walter Mosley and local anti-violence groups led a rally Friday afternoon outside the Whitman Houses, urging the New York City Housing Authority to quickly implement security features like better lighting, adequate locks and added security cameras in developments where crime is the highest.
There are currently no cameras installed in the hallway where the woman was fatally shot in the head, leg and arm just after midnight, said a spokeswoman for Cumbo.
More than $1.6 million in city funds have been allocated to NYCHA to make the improvements, but the work has been stalled due to a project “backlog,” Cumbo said.
“We’ve had many meetings with NYCHA; it’s always about a backlog,” Cumbo said. “It’s unacceptable at this time. Too many lives have been lost in these three developments that we can no longer wait.”
In a statement Friday, a NYCHA spokesman said, “In light of resident concerns, NYCHA is working with our partners in government to increase the number of cameras at Whitman immediately, using new funding allocated last year. NYCHA is working in close collaboration with the community, including residents, the NYPD, and local elected officials, to identify where these security resources will be most effective with the ultimate goal of making Whitman Houses a safer community for all."
Meanwhile, Cumbo and others pressed for an end to gun violence — whether it be white-on-black or black-on-black crime.
“We don’t want nobody to say we don’t get angry when black-on-black crime happens, because we’re angry,” said Anthony Newerls, program director for the group Brownsville In, Violence Out. “Enough is enough. Stop shooting, start living.”
Speakers also referred to the Black Lives Matter movement, saying that all lives matter in light of Thursday’s killing and countless other recent shootings.
“The woman that’s unidentified is somebody’s child, somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister, and [she was] killed like a dog, like a piece of meat, left in the hallway to suffer and die,” said Anthony Sosa, tenants association president at the nearby Ingersoll Houses.
“This is not a matter of Black Lives Matter — all lives matter. We’re living in a time now where people are just picking up guns, killing neighbors, killing innocent people.”
Police have not yet made any arrests in connection to Thursday’s shooting.
