State Attorney General Letitia James’ Republican challenger on Sunday accused her of allowing “chaos in the subways” to persist after a fatal shooting at a crowded Midtown station sent tourists running the previous day.
Saritha Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor, made the accusation at the Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street station, where Saturday’s shooting occurred. She argued that James’ allegedly soft-on-crime policies and opposition to police have allowed transit violence in New York City to buck a broader decline in violent crime, which has reached historic lows in many categories.
“This is why so many families, hard-working New Yorkers and even tourists don’t feel safe coming into New York and using the subways,” Komatireddy said. “Under Letitia James, felony assaults in the transit systems have gone up 94%. That means they’ve doubled.
“That is for one simple reason: James has chosen to investigate the cops who police the subways instead of investigating the violent criminals who create chaos in the subways,” she said. “She actually calls that progress. I call it failure. It’s not progress, it’s failure and we need to treat it as such.
“The reality is right now in New York subways, we have chaos in the trains.”
The deadly weekend shooting happened at about 12:20 p.m., after the victim became involved in an argument with the gunman, police said.
The Midtown subway station was crowded with tourists when the gunman opened fire, hitting the unidentified victim before fleeing. The man was left mortally wounded on the northbound platform, according to police.
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Law-enforcement sources told The Post that the shooting appeared to be a targeted attack and that there was “nothing random between these two individuals.” Authorities have not released additional details.
Komatireddy accused James of remaining too quiet on transit crime while aggressively pursuing investigations into the NYPD, including a 2021 lawsuit alleging excessive force during Black Lives Matter protests.
“As attorney general, I will launch a sweeping transit-crime crackdown,” Komatireddy said. “We will start a transit-crime strike force in the attorney general’s office. We will ensure that the transit crimes are enforced. And we will remove repeat and violent offenders from the trains and buses.”
James’ office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment Sunday.
An increase in city transit murders from January through mid-October has marred an otherwise strong performance by New York’s Finest. Murders and shootings across the five boroughs have fallen so far this year, according to statistics released earlier this month.
Overall subway crime, including assaults and thefts, rose slightly by 0.9%. Police recorded 1,628 incidents through Oct. 6 this year, compared with 1,613 during the same period last year.
Through Oct. 11, the most recent NYPD statistics available, citywide murders were down nearly 20% from last year. Overall transit crime, however, was up 1.6% compared with the same point last year.