New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is drawing sharp criticism from politicians and commentators after framing the daylight killing of a 7-month-old Brooklyn girl in terms of gun violence rather than the criminals responsible.
Kaori Patterson-Moore was struck by a stray bullet Wednesday afternoon while in a double stroller being pushed by her mother near Humboldt and Moore Streets in East Williamsburg. The gunman, Amuri Greene, has since been charged with murder, attempted murder and assault. Police are still searching Friday for the moped driver who fled following a crash that led to Greene’s arrest.
Mr. Mamdani responded to the killing by saying the city could not grow numb to the pain of families who had lost children, before calling on the city to combat gun violence, a framing that drew immediate pushback from critics who said it placed blame on guns rather than the perpetrators.
“Literally anything but blaming the criminals who our system releases onto our streets repeatedly, over and over again, with no consequences,” NYC Republican Councilwoman Vickie Paladino posted on X. “Absolute disgrace.”
Manhattan Institute fellow Rafael A. Mangual told Fox News Digital that Mr. Mamdani’s focus on the weapon used “suggests that he is uncomfortable with acknowledging that the murder of Kaori Patterson-Moore was committed by two evil thugs whose callous disregard for the value of human life should disqualify them from ever experiencing freedom.”
Mr. Mangual added that framing the killing as a gun problem rather than a criminal one was more politically convenient territory for a progressive mayor whose base simultaneously supports gun control and a more lenient criminal justice system.
Mr. Mamdani, who has faced sustained criticism over past calls to defund the police, also drew fire in February after his preliminary FY 2027 budget cancelled a planned expansion of 5,000 additional NYPD officers and proposed a modest $22 million trim to the department’s $6.4 billion budget. He did thank the NYPD in a post on X following Wednesday’s shooting, though that did little to quiet his critics.
Attorney Jim Walden, a former mayoral candidate who ran against Mr. Mamdani in the 2025 race before dropping out in September, was blunt on X. “Every time you now ’thank NYPD’ it burns my blood after you spent your career attacking them and coddling criminals,” Walden wrote, according to Fox News Digital.
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