Battery Park Shooting Is Just Latest In Plague Of Ticket Vendor Aggression, Leaders Say

BATTERY PARK, NY — A shooting in Battery Park has prompted local leaders to demand action to end a plague of harassment involving unscrupulous vendors who target tourists. (For more news from lower Manhattan and the rest of New York City, subscribe to Patch news alerts here.)

Monday's shooting left two people hurt after a dispute that reportedly escalated from an argument over vendors' "turf." Councilwoman Margaret Chin said it was just the latest in a string of complaints of aggression and violence in the area, mostly involving the sellers harassing visitors to get them to buy tickets to landmarks like the State of Liberty.

Jason Wright was charged with attempted murder and assault after the shooting, police said. He is accused of fighting with another ticket vendor outside 2 Washington St., a building across from Battery Park where hundreds of tourists congregate each day to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

During the argument, he fired his gun twice, striking the man he was arguing with and a female bystander, according to a criminal complaint filed against him in court on Friday. The woman was hit in her knee and required emergency surgery and the man's torso was grazed by a bullet, authorities said.

Wright, 37, was arraigned on Friday. Patch was not immediately able to contact his defense attorney.

Chin, who represents the city's first district, which includes Battery Park, called on the city and its Department of Consumer Affairs to rein in ticket selling in the area. She said the situation had "clearly spiraled out of control."

"This shooting is the last straw in an unacceptable situation for residents and visitors in the Battery area," Chin said in a statement.

"For years, ticket sellers have regularly harassed and intimidated anyone unlucky enough to cross their path... This recent shooting, which occurred in broad daylight with young children nearby, presents an unacceptable level of danger."

A City Hall spokesman said the city agreed more had to be done.

"The City has been ramping up enforcement on ticket sellers, and is revoking licenses and closely reviewing who gets them," the spokesman said in an email to Patch. "We agree that more needs to be done, and will be working the with Council and stakeholders on possible solutions."

On Friday morning, hundreds of tourists waited in long lines to buy tickets from Statue Cruises, the only company authorized to transport visitors to Liberty and Ellis islands.

Tourism groups say they've heard reports of groups like this being targeted by scammers who tell lies like the Statue of Liberty is closed and they should buy a ticket for a trip through the harbor instead. Last year, a ticket seller allegedly punched a tourist in the head after the tourist rebuffed another seller, DNAinfo reported. The punch knocked the man to the ground, fracturing his skull. In October, two sellers punched a tourist from Hungary in the face when the tourist asked the vendors to leave his family alone, police said.

Jeremy Wilcox of the Guides Association of NYC , a group for licensed city guides, faulted the various companies that pressured their ticket vendors to hit sales quotas.

"The companies really need to be policing their employees," he said. "For the most part these companies just send these vendors out there and all they want to see is sales numbers, which leads to the vendors getting desperate and fighting for turf."

Wilcox said incidents of violence like Monday's shooting remained rare, but aggressive behaviors and deceitful sales practices persisted amid lax enforcement from the city.

The city has taken some steps to crack down on illegal ticket vending in Battery Park and near the Staten Island Ferry. Last year, a new law went into effect requiring ticket sellers in public spaces, like those in lower Manhattan, to be individually licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs

Dominick DeRubbio, a Staten Island resident and member of a task force tackling the ferry system, said that despite this progress, not enough work had been done to mitigate the concerns that local leaders had raised.

"There’s a very dangerous situation brewing down here and this is not something that has been unknown to the officials for the last year and a half," he told Patch.

Mike Burke, the COO of Statue Cruises, called on the city to increase enforcement in the wake of Monday's shooting.

"The proliferation of illegal vendors ripping off visitors in and around Battery Park over the past five years hurts NYC’s tourism industry and costs the City millions of dollars in lost revenue," he said in a statement to Patch.

"We hope this unfortunate incident leads to a crackdown by the city, particularly as we head into the height of the summer tourist season."

Statue Cruises' parent company, Hornblower, will run the city's new NYC Ferry System, set to launch on Monday.

All images via Ciara McCarthy/Patch.