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    Gunshots Ring Out Multiple Times on 3-Block UWS Stretch this Weekend: Police

    August 4, 2025 | 3:11 PM
    in CRIME, NEWS
    78
    Photo Credit: WSR

    By Gus Saltonstall

    A stretch of the Upper West Side saw two gunshot incidents this weekend, according to the New York Police Department.

    Both of the incidents, neither of which resulted in any gunshot victims, took place between West 87th and 90th streets between Amsterdam and Columbus, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed.

    First, around 11 p.m. on Friday, multiple shots were fired near West 87th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, according to police. There are no details related to why the shots were fired as of Monday afternoon, and there have been no arrests, NYPD said.

    Then, on Sunday around 4:30 p.m., four rounds of gunshots were fired opposite 110 West 90th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus, police said. Shell cases were recovered from the scene, and there have been no arrests, according to police.

    Multiple readers reached out to the Rag this weekend asking about both incidents, including a person who wanted to remain anonymous, but was in the Sol Bloom Playground on West 91st Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus, when the Sunday afternoon gunshots took place.

    “Multiple people stated some version of ‘there is a gun’ and chaos ensued,” the tipster wrote in an email. “Parents and children fled and/or took cover. After 10-15 minutes police arrived at the scene. (Once it got scary, I hid with my child and friends in the public bathroom there, so did not see the resolution.)”

    West Side Rag will update this story if we receive any further information on either incident.

    Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.

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    Please limit comments to 150 words and keep them civil and relevant to the article at hand. Comments are closed after six days. Our primary goal is to create a safe and respectful space where a broad spectrum of voices can be heard. We welcome diverse viewpoints and encourage readers to engage critically with one another’s ideas, but never at the expense of civility. Disagreement is expected—even encouraged—but it must be expressed with care and consideration. Comments that take cheap shots, escalate conflict, or veer into ideological warfare detract from the constructive spirit we aim to cultivate. A detailed statement on comments and WSR policy can be read here.

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    78 Comments
    Ped Astel
    Ped Astel
    1 year ago

    Mamdani will save us!

    45
    Reply
    CB radio
    CB radio
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Ped Astel

    Don’t we have a cop as mayor right now? How is that going for you? News flash: these shootings are happening when he is in office

    46
    Reply
    Raj S
    Raj S
    1 year ago
    Reply to  CB radio

    I fail to see the logic of this comment. If even a cop mayor, who was trying to reason with Albany, failed, why would the pro-defund-the-police kid du jour be any better?

    11
    Reply
    OPOD
    OPOD
    1 year ago
    Reply to  CB radio

    Adams was hated within the NYPD, now that he is mayor, he appointed corrupt and incompetent people. I am actually ashamed of what has happened to the NYPD. Promotions for sale disgusting.

    21
    Reply
    Sal Bando
    Sal Bando
    1 year ago
    Reply to  CB radio

    It’s going pretty well, shootings are at a historic low.

    6
    Reply
    Marty
    Marty
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Ped Astel

    Just like de Blasio did.

    36
    Reply
    UWS Sharon
    UWS Sharon
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Marty

    Excuse me but who is our mayor? Are you guys seriously blaming Mamdani and deBlasio?

    31
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Ped Astel

    Do you really suppose he’ll be worse than Adams has been regards shootings?

    17
    Reply
    Big Difference
    Big Difference
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    The difference with Mamdani will be that the shootings will be directed AT the NYPD, from within City Hall.

    13
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Big Difference

    Right. /s

    1
    Reply
    Sal Bando
    Sal Bando
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    Probably much worse. Adams has been good.

    12
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Sal Bando

    No, Adams has been horrid.

    Why do you suppose that he had no chance of winning the Democratic Primary? It wasn’t just the Turkey thing.

    4
    Reply
    Sal Bando
    Sal Bando
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    The question was about shootings and Adams has been great in that regard.

    1
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Sal Bando

    Adams was terrible for years regards shootings.

    Unless you’re using “great” ironically.

    Last edited 1 year ago by Jay
    1
    Reply
    Joshua
    Joshua
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/pr013/nypd-record-low-shooting-incidents-shooting-victims-the-first-seven-months-the

    Probably… even if just regression to the mean

    13
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Joshua

    Um, that’s just 2025 so far.

    Adams has a horrid shootings record.

    1
    Reply
    Phoebe
    Phoebe
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    Yes.

    5
    Reply
    Anon
    Anon
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    We can still vote for Cuomo

    22
    Reply
    Observer
    Observer
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Anon

    Ha ha! No.

    6
    Reply
    Doug Garr
    Doug Garr
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Anon

    Good luck with that. He couldn’t even fix a subway.

    6
    Reply
    Manhattan parent
    Manhattan parent
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    Yes

    13
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Manhattan parent

    Why would Mamdani be worse regards shootings than Adams?

    2
    Reply
    kort6776
    kort6776
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    open your eyes, of all the bad choices mambani is the worst. consider sliwa, he is a real NYer

    11
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  kort6776

    So you want someone who has staged assaults on himself as mayor?

    1
    Reply
    Manhattan parent
    Manhattan parent
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    The idiocy about social workers tending to crimes and overall insane utopia.

    9
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Manhattan parent

    Man P:

    Citation?

    0
    Reply
    Phoebe
    Phoebe
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    I don’t think it’s appropriate for social workers to put their lives on the line.

    0
    Reply
    Joe
    Joe
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    Ideally we would like to see some improvement but it likely won’t happen with the communist who wants to defund the police as mayor.

    23
    Reply
    Observer
    Observer
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Joe

    To quote Dino Mercotti in a somewhat different context: “Your comment and attitude [are not]…rooted in reality. No program is going to get every gun off the street 100% of the time.” Not to say we shouldn’t try….

    Furthermore, you know that socialism is NOT communism, especially not the deliberate Soviet-era distortions of communism.

    McCarthyist paranoia and self-serving propaganda were divisive, disingenuous, and destructive then, and must not be perpetuated in 2025, on any scale. Certainly, the term “defund” (for demilitarizing / humanizing police) is misleading and unhelpful.

    I look forward to having a mayor who is not a criminal in the pocket of other criminals.

    Last edited 1 year ago by Observer
    22
    Reply
    Rose
    Rose
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Joe

    DUDE THERE IS A LITERAL COP IN OFFICE RIGHT NOW

    11
    Reply
    Cato
    Cato
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Rose

    There’s a cop, yes, but I’m not sure how literal he is. And why are you shouting??

    6
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago

    Those NYPD gun seizures paying off. Oh, wait.

    I’d be furious with the NYPD were I a store owner or resident in the area.

    8
    Reply
    Dino Vercotti
    Dino Vercotti
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    Your comment and attitude is neither mature nor rooted on reality. No program is going to get every gun off the street 100% of the time.

    18
    Reply
    Adam
    Adam
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Jay

    Yes, makes sense, blame the NYPD for criminal behavior. How about being furious at the criminals who put people’s lives in danger by firing guns? Can we at least START there??? Jeez.

    69
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Adam

    Adam,

    Except shootings were much fewer when De Blasio was mayor, so I have to conclude that the NYPD was doing a better job at getting guns off the streets — at least until Covid.

    1
    Reply
    OPOD
    OPOD
    1 year ago

    Stop, Question and (sometimes) Frisk worked. The problem was Bloomberg made it a number, The NYPD during Bloomburg pushed Cops to bring in Stop reports aka 250s Boss would say bring in 5 250s. Cops did not like it public did not like it, but perps were used to getting stopped so they did not carry guns on them they had them hid nearby, but not on them. Today criminals carry guns on a regular,they have no fear of the Police but the fear all the other criminals who have guns.

    46
    Reply
    Gab's Pipeline
    Gab's Pipeline
    1 year ago
    Reply to  OPOD

    What was also going on is that the NYPD harassed minorities by stopping, questioning and frisking people they didn’t like and then not even recording them or downgrading 250s to Level 1 stops on written reports. Sometimes NYPD has been known to even lie on 250s. It is the bad apples in the NYPD that spoiled everything.

    7
    Reply
    Leon
    Leon
    1 year ago
    Reply to  OPOD

    Totally agree. If Bloomberg had toned it down a bit, stop and frisk would have been excellent. All of the rich white know-it-all do-gooders hated it, but many of those in the impacted areas actually liked it as it made them feel safer when it was done properly. No different than TSA. I have nothing to hide so I wouldn’t mind occasionally being stopped if I’m walking through an area with lots of crime.

    32
    Reply
    Davids
    Davids
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Leon

    Very different from the TSA.

    If you have a problem with TSA procedures, there’s an easy solution: Don’t fly on commercial flights. If a detainee didn’t like the NYPD’s stop and frisk tactics, there’s wasn’t anything they could do about it; they’re getting searched against their will.

    See the difference?

    4
    Reply
    UWS crime expert
    UWS crime expert
    1 year ago

    That area has always been sketchy!

    12
    Reply
    Joe
    Joe
    1 year ago
    Reply to  UWS crime expert

    90th between Columbus and Amsterdam? Hmmmmmm why is it “sketchy” exactly? Whats there? We’re talking about a mere block away from Trinity School.

    25
    Reply
    Juan
    Juan
    1 year ago

    No worries Mamdani will send some social workers and deal with it

    31
    Reply
    Tony J
    Tony J
    1 year ago

    “Gunshot shells were recovered from the scene”

    Pardon? Do you mean “empty shell casings”? “Spent shotgun shells”?

    3
    Reply
    Sara
    Sara
    1 year ago

    How does this affect the stats? Least gun crimes since 1970

    3
    Reply
    Michael
    Michael
    1 year ago

    It’s time to rethink how we structure public housing in NY. Where there are big blocks like on 90th between Columbus and Amsterdam crime seems inevitable: police arrives at the projects every other night, the Duane Reade on the corner is robbed literally ever day and now gunfire on the streets.

    Of course public housing is needed. But there are better ways of interacting it into the neighborhood. E.g. allow more new high-rise development but set a aside a minimum percentage of units to be rented out to NYCHA and/or force/incentivize existing buildings to rent apartments to NYCHA. This way we truly integrate low income people into society and improve their standard of living, instead of facilitating crime ridden slums in the middle of our neighborhoods.

    11
    Reply
    Wise Towers
    Wise Towers
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Michael

    Could low-income residents not be integrated into public housing developments in say….. Staten Island? Brooklyn? Queens? Bronx?

    Is the standard of living in those boroughs not high enough?

    Disperse the poverty, disperse the pathology.

    BTW, the only time I have come close to being mugged in 20 years in NYC was on W 90th, between Columbus and Amsterdam. I have good reason to believe that the young men may have been “locals”. VERY local.

    4
    Reply
    OPOE
    OPOE
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Michael

    This has been tried.

    https://www.westsiderag.com/2025/07/25/teenage-boy-slashed-multiple-times-in-luxury-uws-building-nypd

    12
    Reply
    Raj S
    Raj S
    1 year ago
    Reply to  OPOE

    Weren’t you bashed by do-gooders just for suggesting that the building was mixed income? Neither the do-gooders nor WSR clarified the fact that it actually was.

    6
    Reply
    Helen Marshall
    Helen Marshall
    1 year ago
    Reply to  OPOE

    Many tenants in market rate rental buildings, even white progressives, do not want neighbors on housing vouchers. Trust me, white progressives are known to call UWS management companies to complain about minority neighbors in the building. Then when confronted, they will say that it is nothing to do with race and that they have minority friends.

    5
    Reply
    neighbor785
    neighbor785
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Helen Marshall

    I’m confused. Do they call management companies because they object to the presence of minority neighbors or because particular neighbors break building rules, and in some cases, those neighbors who break building rules can be called “minority”?

    4
    Reply
    Wishful
    Wishful
    1 year ago

    I believe the Sol Bloom Playground is between Columbus and CPW, not Amsterdam and Columbus. It is between an elementary school and a NYCHA building.

    5
    Reply
    Bill
    Bill
    1 year ago

    We need more cops and cameras. Please arrest criminals and jail them.

    28
    Reply
    UWS Dad
    UWS Dad
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Bill

    Remarkable and innovative suggestion, thanks for your comment Bill

    7
    Reply
    Manhattan parent
    Manhattan parent
    1 year ago
    Reply to  UWS Dad

    Bill’s comment expressed frustration with a system that doesn’t jail criminals, whereas yours is your usual snark

    24
    Reply
    A Y
    A Y
    1 year ago

    On Sunday (8/5) afternoon, somebody also flashed a gun during a fight on the Sol Bloom Playground’s basketball courts. What is going on…

    9
    Reply
    Raj S
    Raj S
    1 year ago
    Reply to  A Y

    “Raise the age”

    6
    Reply
    L11
    L11
    1 year ago
    Reply to  A Y

    Pretty this is the same Sunday dispute that is mentioned here.

    0
    Reply
    Dino Vercotti
    Dino Vercotti
    1 year ago

    Not surprising. The neighborhood takes a noticeable nose-dive once you go above 86th St.

    6
    Reply
    Concernedcitizen
    Concernedcitizen
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Dino Vercotti

    There was a shooting at 79th and Columbus last year, as well as recently near 72nd CPW. The “nothiing is good above 86th street” is so 1990s UWS bigotry. Tell that to Trinity and Dwight schools.

    16
    Reply
    Dino Vercotti
    Dino Vercotti
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Concernedcitizen

    All one needs to do is look at his or her surroundings once they cross over. Accept reality and move on.

    4
    Reply
    RAVL
    RAVL
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Dino Vercotti

    I clearly fail to recognize my nose-diving surroundings on 92 street. Looks the same as it has for 20 years

    1
    Reply
    OPOE
    OPOE
    1 year ago

    Expect only more of this.

    Vote better at state and local levels.

    Last edited 1 year ago by OPOE
    19
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  OPOE

    You mean vote for cop republicans like Adams?

    I already voted against him.

    5
    Reply
    UWS Dad
    UWS Dad
    1 year ago
    Reply to  OPOE

    ‘Vote better’ is the most vague and empty possible comment. It says nothing, you can make it at any time and on any article… if there were any specifics it would be vulnerable to being refuted…

    2
    Reply
    OPOE
    OPOE
    1 year ago
    Reply to  UWS Dad

    I am not sure how it is vague.

    Elected officials enact laws.

    Our current laws as enacted by elected officials are not protecting us.

    We need new elected officials to enact laws that will protect law-abiding citizens,

    Thusly, vote better,

    “Oh hey” below me sums it up also.

    12
    Reply
    Oh hey
    Oh hey
    1 year ago

    The UWS gets what it votes for… and not talking abt the mayor specifically (but just wait for Mamdani), but mostly Albany reps

    15
    Reply
    Doug Garr
    Doug Garr
    1 year ago

    The odds are better that you will die by crossing with the light, in a crosswalk, and getting hit by a bicycle. So chill out already.

    2
    Reply
    Manhattan parent
    Manhattan parent
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Doug Garr

    I’m not sure I prefer either way for my family. Not sure what you are trying to say – we couldn’t fight crime?

    6
    Reply
    RCP
    RCP
    1 year ago

    This is too close to home. Why haven’t police stepped up foot patrols of these blocks?

    4
    Reply
    neighbor785
    neighbor785
    1 year ago

    As suggested below in other comments, I suspect that proximity to NYCHA housing is a factor. That seems to correlate with gunshots. “Progressives” who may well not live near “gun-activity” blocks don’t want a gang registry, but I think we need one.

    23
    Reply
    Lgerson
    Lgerson
    1 year ago

    How about if the police get out of the patrol cars? I rarely, rarely, I mean, RARELY, see them out of the car. Generally, they are sitting inside looking at their cell phones.
    Does anyone know the names of any of the police in their area? Do they introduce themselves to store owners, or the local denizens?

    14
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Lgerson

    Getting out of the car would mean pausing Candy Crush.

    0
    Reply
    Manhattan parent
    Manhattan parent
    1 year ago

    I can’t understand how some peopke still want Bragg. Bragg in combination with any mayor is a threat to the city’s safety, but with Mamdani we need to brace ourselves.

    26
    Reply
    OPOE
    OPOE
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Manhattan parent

    Gird your loins.

    5
    Reply
    Shari
    Shari
    1 year ago

    Aren’t there cameras? Hard to tell where they even originated. Really scary. On Columbus, dog attack – now bullet shots?

    1
    Reply
    Lori
    Lori
    1 year ago

    Becoming a hot spot over there.

    1
    Reply
    Neighbor785
    Neighbor785
    1 year ago

    I think most people on here will agree that crime was worse in the 70s and 80s. But this is now. There is far too much homeless encampment, open drug use, crime, unlicensed peddling, and general dysfunction. I walked through Washington Square Park, as I often do, and once again was struck by how much seedier it is than 10 years ago — colorful personalities notwithstanding. A society can’t be healthy without civic order. Bullets whizzing by children in playgrounds call for those families to move out of the city. If we want to save the gem of a city that we have, we have to protect it.

    11
    Reply
    Jay
    Jay
    1 year ago
    Reply to  Neighbor785

    Well, housing was cheaper relative to income in the 70s and even the 80s.

    Washington Square Park from 10 years ago, or today, contrast with WSP in the 80s or 90s.

    True, bullets whizzing by children anywhere is not good thing, the NYPD needs to do a better job.

    0
    Reply

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