The Challenges That a Deadly Night Poses for Eric Adams

Good morning. It’s Wednesday. Today we’ll look at how random violent incidents underscore the challenges that Mayor Eric Adams faces as he tries to improve public safety. We’ll also get details on the gag order imposed on Donald Trump by the judge presiding over the former president’s hush-money case.

Credit…Dakota Santiago for The New York Times

Mayor Eric Adams found himself in a tough situation in the aftermath of two deaths on Monday that seemed to confirm some people’s fears that New York City was unsafe and out of control.

A police officer died after being shot in Queens, and a subway rider was pushed in front of a train and killed in an unprovoked attack in Manhattan.

Later the police arrested the 24-year-old man they said had shoved the passenger, and they filed murder charges, saying that he appeared to have struggled with mental illness and had a history of violent acts. On Tuesday a 34-year-old man was in custody in the shooting in Queens and was being treated at Jamaica Hospital. The police said he had refused to get out of an illegally parked S.U.V. when the officer asked him to do so.

Adams lamented what he said were “bad people doing bad things to good people,” but he was adamant that the city had not spiraled out of control. I asked Emma G. Fitzsimmons, who as our City Hall bureau chief covers Adams daily, to discuss whether the two incidents were an inflection point in his efforts to reassure New Yorkers about safety.