NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Eric Adams said the city is sending 1,000 extra NYPD officers to the Bronx this weekend after at least 15 people were shot in the borough in recent days.
During a news conference at Haffen Park in Baychester on Thursday, Adams said the officers would be sent to "hotspots" in the borough.
"We are zero focused on the Bronx because of what we're seeing," Adams said. "A thousand more officers."
It's already a busy holiday weekend for the NYPD, with Labor Day and the J'Ouvert and the West Indian Parade happening in Brooklyn. But Adams said he'll pull officers from wherever possible and send them to the Bronx.
"We've actually looked all over the city, and whenever we can get an able-bodied officer, we've gotten officers from behind the desk to be out this weekend," the mayor said. "We want to make sure we have the right deployment to deal with this violence."
The move also comes as President Donald Trump threatened this week to send the National Guard to cities to combat street crime. New York leaders have said the NYPD has things under control in the city.
A basketball court at Haffen Park was the scene of a shooting Saturday that left one man dead and a 17-year-old girl fighting for her life. Three others were also wounded as more than 60 shots were fired. Police charged four teen boys with murder.
A number of other shootings followed in the days after. Two people were killed and four injured in shootings in Soundview, West Farms and Belmont on Tuesday. And three people were shot, one fatally, in Claremont on Wednesday morning.
The mayor also wants to work with gang members to end the violence.
"We're going to reach out to the notable gang members -- the shooters, the trigger-pullers -- and see if we can sit down around the table and talk about how do we end this violence," Adams said.
Assistant Chief Benjamin Gurley, of NYPD Patrol Borough Bronx, said the shootings are now frequently young people targeting young people.
"I'm seeing 13-year-old girls carrying guns, I'm seeing 12-year-old boys as shooters carrying guns," Gurley said.