#Tourists react to Times Square shooting

Tourists visiting Times Square on Monday expressed fears for their safety — and the city’s future — following the second shooting there in as many months.

“Worrying about getting killed in a crossfire was not on my itinerary when I booked this trip with my girlfriends — especially while touring the biggest attraction,” said Pat Flanagan of Cleveland.

“It’s actually more sad than scary because I want to see New York pick up again.”

Flanagan, 44, added: “Crime can be controlled if you control it. New York learned how to do it in the past, so why not now? It’s got the biggest police department in the country and it can’t stop people from firing guns in Times Square?”

“Right now, tourism is making a comeback after COVID,” she said.

“Don’t kill it by letting crime run rampant.”

Retired teacher Arthur Escalera of Harrisburg, Penn., who was vacationing with his wife, said Sunday’s shooting made it seem like “you’re in a city that’s lost the power to police itself.”

“We remember Times Square the way it was in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and if we had tickets to a Broadway show we would consider it a sort of walk on the wild side to walk down 42nd Street at night,” he said.

“But we never feared for our lives. Getting mugged was a fear, but death by a stray bullet? Never.”

Meghan Nash, a dental hygienist from Charlotte, N.C. — who’s staying at a Hampton Inn just blocks from the scene of Sunday’s shooting — was unaware of the incident until learning about it from a reporter.

“That’s insane. That’s really terrible,” said Nash, 30.

“I knew crime was up but I didn’t think things had gotten so bad that people were firing guns in Times Square.”

Nash added, “I probably would have picked a different destination. I really just wanted to have fun, not worry about getting randomly killed by a stray bullet.”