Inside the Zeldin Shooting Story
Because folks, the kids are NOT alright....
“Youth is not a question of years: one is young or old from birth.” - Natalie Clifford Barney
As is nearly always the case in law enforcement, there is a story-behind-the-story.
You’ve likely heard about the shooting outside New York gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin’s Long Island home. Two 17-years olds shot, non-fatally. No arrests at this time.
There are three subtleties to this that I’m not seeing elsewhere:
The Effects of NY’s Raise-the-Age Legislation: Latest reporting is that this case is gang-affiliated. As the victims are high school age, there’s a good chance the shooters are too — gang members tend to be around the same age. As part of the recent NYS “criminal justice reforms,” the age of criminal responsibility was raised from 16 to 18. Which means: investigators will have far less leverage to flip potential witnesses or informants. Everyone involved could well be a juvenile — making police operations far more complicated, legally/procedurally.
Also, once caught (and they will be), as juvies the perpetrators won’t be looking at much time.
The Effects of Long Island’s Gang Enforcement: During the Obama administration, when border enforcement was light, Long Island developed a serious MS-13 problem. When President Trump took office, he prioritized cracking down on 13, with Long Island a prime staging ground. He also tightened the border.
It worked. Here’s the reporting, from 2020:
Since Trump took office, federal arrests of suspected gang members went up, as did deportations. Last December, Suffolk County District attorney Timothy Sini announced a multi-agency takedown of almost 100 gang members, from nine different cliques in Suffolk County…. Suffolk police say MS-13 homicides have steadily decreased, from 11 in 2016 to just one last year. There have been none so far in 2020.
With the advent of the Biden administration, the border was essentially thrown open again. And unsurprisingly, MS-13 is returning to Long Island (here’s another recent MS-13 killing on Long Island, and here’s a DOJ press release that outright states the problem).
Law enforcement is doing what it can on Long Island as the threat rises (see here. Full disclosure: I know both the officers featured in that. They are world-class police executives).
The Zeldin shooting does not appear specifically linked to MS-13. The point remains. As with the mafia, if law enforcement lightens up on gang enforcement, the gangs rise again. Long Island has a real gang problem. Washington needs to help. (Here’s a way they could).
The Effects of the Lockdown: It is no secret that two years without the socialization process of school has done our nation’s youth no favors. As these victims are high school age — and the shooters may well be also — one must ask if rising gang violence could be a symptom of that. Recent surveys support this notion.
The Zeldin shooting is something of a bellwether event; it imports a lot of issues and it’s gotten a lot of attention. For what little it’s worth: Your narrator believes the polls are wrong, and that the NY Governor’s race is close.
The shooting of three SWAT team members in Philadelphia is horrific but sadly unsurprising, with what has been happening in the City of Brotherly Gunfire. We have written previously about the depredations of DA Larry Krasner, perhaps the most zealous of the Soros prosecutors. And Philly PD is down 600 officers — 20% of their capacity.
But here is a case you are NOT hearing about, sent to us by a reader: Two Sheriff’s Deputies shot and killed in Cobb County, Georgia:
An “ambush,” then a standoff between police and the two perps. Two good men, murdered.
These are the two arrestees who decided to shoot it out rather than face a simple theft warrant:
(Compare the two sets of photos. Who would you rather have as neighbors?)
The commonality between the Philly and Georgia cases is that both were warrant-service jobs. The point: Any police job wherein the subjects know you’re coming always made my hair stand on end. It’s why I hated car stops. (The other highly loaded job: domestic disputes).
The larger point: As per FBI numbers for last year, a police officer is killed in the line-of-duty roughly once every three days (discounting 9/11-related illness, covid, etc). Ask yourself: How many times did you hear a story of a cop killing last year? This year? Certainly not every three days.
Here’s a simple tracker:
(source: FBI Data Explorer)
Note that these numbers don’t capture police suicides, or instances in which the officers survived.
Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute has this take, in defending attacks on the brave Larry Elder:
The public simply does not understand how reticent cops are to shoot. With exceptions (and they certainly exist — here is video of a horrifying case), any cop knows that once that gun goes off, your life changes forever. For the worse.
Years ago I actually wrote of an experience I had regarding this topic, for the Nieman Journalism Foundation, who were kind enough to publish it (I’m not sure they would do so these days). Find it here.
WAIT, WHAT? Let me get something straight: Christopher Steele was offered $1 million to corroborate his own dossier? And even he wouldn’t (or couldn’t) do it?
OMG.
Forget the politics. There are two glaring operational red flags here:
(1) You NEVER offer to outright pay for testimony (except an expert witness for trial). This is for obvious reasons — the testimony cannot be trusted, and it is too easily impeached. It is also highly unethical and generally illegal. And a million dollars??
(2) The reporting is that FBI intelligence analyst Brian Auten interviewed Steele in 2016 in Rome, as the FBI sought more details on the dossier (it was in fact Auten who revealed the $1 million dangle on the stand this week).
Folks, Auten is an analyst — not an agent. An analyst in the field interviewing a clandestine source? Very unusual.
Time to once again resort to the old NYPD standby: Something here is highly fugazy.
Department of Bad Ideas: We wrote about this previously — a law banning the use of “creative content” in prosecutions.
The truth: It is just a pantomime — the judge still gets the final say, as she did before this law. All this does is add another procedural hoop to jump through. Just what the courts need.
But that didn’t stop Governor Newsom from signing it, to much fanfare.
Beware of legislation announced on Twitter.
Congrats, California. But hey, he’s got nice hair…!
This case made national news, and the NYPD has made arrests.
They’ll get the rest of the crew, because in group crimes, you get one, you’ll get them all. We’ll see the stories soon.
But my question: Why the HELL were they wearing the green suits???
If anyone knows, please send up the bat signal and advise. Because I have not seen that explained anywhere. And I’m having nightmares.
And finally: Looks like your humble narrator will appear on Fox Business with fellow New Yorker Maria Bartiromo Friday morning, to take a stick to deteriorating conditions in New York City.
My supporters in the provinces have reacted predictably….
(Now that’s a party I wish I’d been at…).
We’ll see you soon, with our Weekend Buff suggestion. Until then… please stay safe.