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Evette Jeffrey, 16, with her whole future ahead of her, was just riding her scooter outside a Bronx school when cops believe a 14-year-old boy — 14! — shot her dead.
Chalk up two more tragedies to the curse of “criminal-justice reform.”
Police say it began with a gang-related melee Monday afternoon.
From video, it appears the boy began firing after being punched; one bullet hit Evette, a classic innocent bystander.
But how would a 14-year-old get a gun?
And where would he get the idea that the proper response to a punch is to whip out a firearm and let loose?
Parents, as Mayor Eric Adams suggested, have a duty to be vigilant about their children’s whereabouts and activities; he’s right to urge checking kids’ backpacks and bedrooms. And of course adults should steer their kids away from violence — and violent crowds.
But as we’ve often pointed out, a good part of the blame also lies with New York’s criminal-justice system, which now sends a blaring signal that thugs, especially kids, will face scant consequences for criminal actions.
Indeed, the Raise the Age law — signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2017 and backed by now-Gov. Kathy Hochul — protected teens under 18 (up from 16) from facing charges in adult criminal courts for all but the most serious crimes.
That encouraged over-18 gangbangers to use younger kids as mules to carry their weapons, rightly figuring they’d escape serious consequences if caught.
And the 2022 “Raise the Lower Age” law made it impossible to charge offenders aged 7 to 11 as “juvenile delinquents.”
Meanwhile, cashless bail and other criminal-justice “reforms,” plus soft-on-crime prosecutors and judges, reinforced New York’s “anything goes” crime climate.
Yes, new NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in six months has finally begun making a dent in violent crime, with murders down 34% and shootings 23% for the first three months of the year.
But too much violence remains.
And now, an innocent young girl has lost her life.
Her family and friends are devastated.
“They took her away from us. They took her away from me,” sobbed Evette’s grandma.
Do lawmakers who still support those “reforms” — Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart Cousins, Hochul — even care?