After Times Square shooting, NYC grappling with crime spree as tourists make plans, commuters return to work

After being shrouded by concerns surrounding the coronavirus for more than a year, New York City and public officials have largely overcome the need for pandemic-related protections but are instead feeling the pressure to secure the Big Apple’s major hubs, most recently Times Square, for tourists and people returning to work as the city is confronted with a crime spree. 

"We are going into the Summer of New York City. We have more and more activity out there, more and more jobs coming back, more and more tourists coming back," de Blasio continued during the Monday morning press conference. "They have to be safe and they have to feel safe." But reporters had questions, not only about the rollout of 50 more cops in Times Square after city officials announced a similar plan just months earlier — also about what the latest shooting, on a busy Sunday in broad daylight, says about the safety of Times Square.