(NewsNation) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the three unprovoked fatal stabbings across Manhattan Monday morning show how the criminal justice and mental health systems fail New Yorkers.
“It’s a public health safety issue,” Adams said regarding the triple homicide at a news conference Tuesday morning. “This is the result of not taking actions and ignoring people who need help.”
Ramon Rivera, 51, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal stabbings of three people in a string of random attacks across Manhattan, police said Tuesday.
Rivera was taken into custody after he was found with blood on his clothes and the two kitchen knives, authorities said. All three stabbings were random and unprovoked, police say.
The bloodshed happened in a major city where, like in others, crime has taken a prominent place in political discourse and everyday concerns in the years since pandemic lockdowns emptied streets and spurred disorder. Killings in New York City so far in 2024 have declined 14% in two years, but serious assaults are up about 12%, according to police statistics.
Adams has been advocating for state lawmakers to pass the “Supportive Interventions Act,” which would grant him greater authority to involuntarily hospitalize New Yorkers experiencing crises.
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Rafael Mangual discussed the issue on “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” stating, “We’re being forced to confront the idea that it may not be compassionate to allow individuals like Rivera and Jordan Neely to rot in public.”
Mangual also highlighted a parallel between the debates over mental health treatment and criminal justice in cities like New York.
