UWS Advocacy Org Holds Vigil For Shot And Killed Homeless Man

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Side advocacy organization created in response to the temporary shelter at The Lucerne hotel in the neighborhood during the beginning of the pandemic led a vigil Sunday night for a homeless man shot and killed on the streets of Manhattan earlier in the weekend.

A homeless man was found dead with a gunshot wound to his head Saturday morning in Lower Manhattan, part of what police say is a series of shootings targeting homeless people in New York City and Washington D.C.

Five people sleeping on the streets have been shot since the beginning of March and two have died in two major northeast cities. Police believe the same man is responsible for the shootings.

• Homeless Targeted In 5 NYC And DC Shootings, Police Say

Open Hearts Initiative, which used to have Upper West Side in its name, along with other homeless advocacy organizations and advocates including VOCAL-NY, Housing Works, and Home is a Human right took part in the vigil at 148 Lafayette Street on Sunday night — the address of where the homeless man was found dead.

Shamms DaBaron, a.k.a Da Homeless Hero, who is a former resident of The Lucerne, was also in attendance.

“I’m deeply disturbed by these horrible attacks on homeless New Yorkers," DaBaron said. "When I was homeless, my biggest fear was dying. No one wants to be on the streets or in the subways--people end up there because the only other option they are given is to enter a congregate shelter that dehumanizes them."

"I'm asking Mayor Adams and Governor Hochul to immediately open more Safe Havens and stabilization beds to offer single-occupancy rooms to homeless New Yorkers,” he added.

Multiple speakers at the vigil referenced that as of March 2 just 22 people living in the subway system accepted placement at a shelter of the 1,553 contacted in the first week of Mayor Eric Adam's "subway safety plan."

There were 143 arrests, though.

“We are absolutely heartbroken by this senseless loss of life. Homeless New Yorkers have been made vulnerable by the city’s policies," Corinne Low, co-founder and executive director of Open Hearts Initiative, said in a news release. "When the COVID hotels closed, many people returned to the streets, because they did not feel safe in the city’s congregate shelters with an airborne virus circulating."

"We know what works to get people indoors: offering private, dignified, and safe accommodations," she added. "The city needs to immediately scale up access to Safe Haven and stabilization beds, where we know people will accept shelter."