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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has said "we cannot accept this violence as normal" after a 12-year-old boy was shot and killed in the Bronx on Saturday.
The New York Police Department said that the boy was shot around Elliot Place in the Mount Eden part of the city. In a statement to Newsweek Sunday, the NYPD said the victim was Jacob Freytes. Local outlet News 12 reported that the victim was the son of a retired member of the NYPD.
A witness heard five shots and saw a boy on a bike collapse on the sidewalk and the shooter drive away in a Jeep, according to ABC 7. The child was shot in the shoulder and was pronounced dead at Lincoln Hospital.
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"There are no arrests at this time, and the investigation remains ongoing," the NYPD statement said.
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A 34-year-old man was shot in the foot in the same incident and a 25-year-old was shot in the backside, who are both expected to survive, police said. Investigators had taped off an area around the Wanda Deli on Elliot Place and Walton Avenue on Saturday evening.
"They're great kids, they were just riding their bikes minding their business all the time and always at home," family friend Jose Sanchez told NBC New York. "Just to hear this is heartbreaking."
Newsweek has contacted the NYPD and New York City mayor's office for comment.
Mamdani’s Statements
After Saturday's shooting Mamdani posted on X: "My heart breaks for his family, friends and all those who loved him. Their loss is unimaginable. I am praying for the speedy recovery of the other two victims of this shooting.
"I’m grateful for the hospital staff, and the NYPD for their work to find those responsible for this heinous act.
"Our children should be able to ride their bikes on a nice summer day in their neighborhood without fear of being shot. We cannot accept this violence as normal."
Mamdani took office on January 1, and his statement is the latest he has made about gun crime in the city.
On July 2, New York Police Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch announced that between January and July, there had been 322 shooting incidents and 381 victims, compared with 397 victims for the same period last year. The figures were not broken down by age.
On April 1, seven-month old baby Kaori Patterson-Moore was fatally shot in an alleged gang-related shooting in Brooklyn. Police said the girl was shot in a stroller when a man on a moped fired at a group of adults and children on a sidewalk in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
In response, Mamdani said: "This is not our first family to know this pain. Too many children have never grown up into becoming adults."
On July 4, four children aged between six and 14 were among eight people injured in a shooting in Brooklyn's Coney Island. A man dressed in black and in a black ski mask approached and fired multiple rounds at a family barbecue.
Mamdani said on July 7: "We will find whoever is responsible for this heinous crime, and we will hold them fully accountable to the law."
He added that he would "not rationalize a barbecue being interrupted by gunfire and panic."
Robert Smith, 44 was arrested and charged with multiple counts of attempted murder.
On April 17, Jaden Pierre, 15 was shot and killed in Roy Wilkins Park in Southeast Queens in an incident that shocked the local community. After Pierre’s death, Mamdani said: “This is something that is unacceptable. And it is something that his family — his entire community — now has to bear the loss of.”
On April 25, 16-year-old Marquise Byfield was shot and killed in an East New York, Brooklyn bodega. In response, Mamdani posted on X: "No teenager in New York City should ever fall victim to gun violence, and no family should ever have to endure this kind of pain."
Before he took office, Mamdani expressed his concern at gun crime.
In December 2025, as mayor-elect, he condemned the Brown University shooting in Rhode Island that killed at least two people and injured eight others in an X post which said "this senseless violence, once considered unfathomable, has become nauseatingly normal to all of us across our nation."
Meanwhile, as mayoral candidate, on August 25, 2025 Mamdani condemned, "the scourge of gun violence," following a suspected gang-related shooting in Brooklyn's Crown Heights that killed three and left nine others injured.
However, upon release of New York's crime figures for the first half of 2026, Mamdani said on July 2 that "over the past six months, New York City has experienced the safest start to any year on record."
"The data reflects what New Yorkers are feeling on our subways, on our streets and across the five boroughs: our whole-of-government approach to public safety is working," he added.
In March, his administration announced a strategy to tackle gun violence across the city. Part of this includes the Crisis Management System (CMS) violence-interruption network to mediate conflicts and decrease gun violence.
In its 2026 Summer Safety Plan, City Hall said CMS providers would increase community outreach and neighborhood canvassing, expand staffing during evenings, weekends and holidays and install a 72-hour shooting response plan to support victims, families and communities after shootings.
Update 7/26/26, 1:05 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from the NYPD and more information.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Tony Phillips
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