Mayor Eric Adams highlighted the need for more mental health resources at his weekly briefing with reporters Tuesday, following a fatal stabbing spree on Monday.
“This is the failure of our unwillingness to face the problem, address the problem and don’t be so idealistic that we’re not realistic. People need care,” Adams said.
Suspect Ramon Rivera, a 51-year-old apparent homeless man, has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder.
Adams said the incident is an example of why policies like his involuntary removals are necessary.
“Too many people were afraid to step up and say people who are dealing with severe mental health illness need to get the care they deserve even if it means involuntary removals,” he said. “I was not willing to sit back and allow this to continue to happen. And the thousands we removed off the streets prevented incidents like this.”
The mayor first implemented his plan of involuntarily removing struggling New Yorkers off city streets back in Nov. 2022.
Since then, Adams says the city has taken about 6,800 New Yorkers off the city’s subway system and into permanent housing.
Adams placed blame on the mental health and criminal justice system in part for the stabbing spree.
“That’s a wake up call for our criminal justice system and our psychiatric system,” he said. “We have three New Yorkers who were murdered in our city by a person who was betrayed by the healthcare system, and that should trouble us all.”
But Rivera was arrested eight times before by the NYPD, including for assault and burglary before Monday’s killing spree.
The mayor said there will be an analysis of the incident.
Adams also called for additional solutions to the problem like adding long-term psychiatric beds and calling on the state to help too.
“We do need Albany to pass a supportive intervention act. It clearly clarifies the standards for holding a person for care in a hospital, because clarity allows people not to feel reluctant to make the decision. And that clarity is not there,” he said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul also weighed in on the tragedy Tuesday.
“I share every New Yorker’s sense of anxiety that you feel like things are trending in the right direction and then all of a sudden there’s the blaring headlines and the story unfolding yesterday that just shakes your sense of security to its core,” Hochul said.
Hochul agreed with Adams about the failures and vowed to continue to make mental health a priority at the state level.
“I want people to know that I will go back to the legislature, back with every tool in my kit, to find ways to address this because this is unacceptable,” she said.