How many more tragic deaths must New Yorkers put up with before any change comes about?

A 12-year-old boy was shot twice and died while sitting in a car eating dinner in East Flatbush just after sunset Thursday evening. Another occupant was injured, but expected to survive.

The senseless murder came as two cars allegedly exchanged as many as 11 shots fired in what NYPD believes to be gang related incident.

“Once again I’m standing here before you to brief you on another senseless shooting, this time a shooting involving the death of a 12-year-old child,” Assistant Chief Mike Kemper, commanding officer of Brooklyn South, said at a Thursday night press conference from the scene.

As is often is the case Mayor Eric Adams appeared at the shooting to decry all the mandates he has now power over, namely bail reform and illegal guns.

“We’re going to catch this shooter. But as long as we have guns and a revolving door system, we’re going to continue to come to crime scenes like this. It’s time for it to stop,” Adams said.

This shooting comes on the heels of a Legal Aid Society study purporting to show that the any effort by the NYPD to bring back “quality of life” policing will be racially discriminatory.

It cites 2021 data indicating that the vast majority of those arrested for such offenses were black and Hispanic, and so provided fodder for the usual suspects on the City Council to criticize NYPD brass.

Unfortunately what the study did not reveal was the vast majority of the victims of violence were black and Hispanic, who also deserve “quality of life” policing.

Black New Yorkers make up about 24% of the city population, but are the vast majority of serious crime victims: 65% of those murdered in 2020, and 74% of shooting victims.

When you add in Hispanics (29% of the city, though many are also black): In 2019, 88% of murder victims were black or Hispanic, along with 74% of rape victims, 69% of robbery victims and nearly 80% of felony assault victims.

All New Yorkers need to have equal protection under the law, and yet the same people purporting to have their back want to further handcuff NYPD from protecting this segment of the city.

Lots of things are broken in this city besides windows.