New York City Heightens Security After Trump Assassination Attempt
Anyone wanting to browse at the Gucci or Tiffany stores on Fifth Avenue on Monday had to be vetted by uniformed police officers guarding the now-barricaded block between 56th and 57th Streets in front of Trump Tower. However, that was a marked improvement from the complete shutdown of the street earlier in the day.
George Groner, security director for the Fifth Avenue Association, said that the business district group worked with the city’s counterterrorism organization to loosen the initial restrictions on pedestrians to allow them access to Gucci, Tiffany and the retail stores in the atrium of Trump Tower, which includes a Trump Store that sells memorabilia of the former president. The stores were inaccessible prior to noon on Monday.
Groner said there is no end date at this point on how long the street will be restricted, but it could be many months. “It’s going to look pretty similar to four years ago,” he said, referring to how the streets around Trump Tower were blocked while he was serving in the White House.
Delta barriers (a high security vehicle access barricade) are also expected to be added once again to the streets around Trump Tower, he said.
The heightened security follows the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pa., on Saturday evening. Immediately after the news broke about the shooting, Trump supporters gathered around Trump Tower, prompting the response from the city and law enforcement.
Although the barricades outside of Trump Tower, and the containment area set up across the street for a sea of photographers, are nothing new for New York, it has been several years since the security has been as tight.
Shoppers had to be approved by police Monday to shop at the Gucci store.
Jean E. Palmieri
As of Monday afternoon, the NYPD had not responded to media requests inquiring how much police detail had increased at Trump Tower, and whether security has also been increased at Trump-owned properties in the city. However, an internal counterterrorist memo obtained by NBC New York said the shooting was likely to resonate with extremists and could result in further calls for violence.
Spokespeople for Gucci and Tiffany did not respond to requests on whether or not the barricading of the block had impacted business. A call to the Gucci store was transferred to a call service which would only confirm that the store was open and a few clients had also phoned to check.
Executives at Wharton Properties, which reportedly sold Kering a 115,000-square-foot retail space at 715-717 Fifth Avenue for $1 billion, and 720 and 724 Fifth Avenue to Prada for a total of $835 million, were not immediately available to comment Monday afternoon.
56th Street was completed closed to vehicular traffice on Monday.
Jean E. Palmieri
Calling the shooting “a dark day in American history,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul updated New Yorkers Monday on increased security measures that have been enacted around the state. Hochul said the New York State Intelligence Center is monitoring social media “and other communication channels for threats of violence or retaliation. The New York State Police Counterintelligence Unit is conducting outreach to local law enforcement to check for suspicious activity. State police personnel on the Joint Terrorism Task Force are coordinating with federal law enforcement and partner agencies. We’re also monitoring high-profile locations such as government buildings that could be potential targets and are increasing patrols in those areas.”
On Sunday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, flanked by the Reverend Al Sharpton and other “faith leaders,” said they would work to “dam every river of the toxic violence that we’re seeing so it does not continue to spill over into a sea of violence.”
Although New York is always a flashpoint in times like these, the more-immediate concern was the Republican National Convention whose four-day run got underway on Monday. Trump, on his Truth Social account, said that although he had considered delaying his trip to the convention in Milwaukee by two days, “I have just decided to I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling.”
The former president was officially named the Republican candidate for president on Monday when he also announced that Ohio senator J.D. Vance would be his vice presidential pick. Prior to that, Trump told the media on Sunday that he has rewritten his speech in light of the events on Saturday night. “The speech will be a lot different, a lot different than it would’ve been two days ago,” he said. “It is a chance to bring the country together. I was given that chance.”
Given Saturday’s shooting, continued calls for his Democratic rival Joe Biden to bow out of the presidential race and the seemingly widening political divide nationwide, both conventions are expected to have ramped-up interest and security. In 2020, the RNC averaged 19.4 million viewers each night and the DNC averaged 21.6 million nightly viewers, according to Nielsen ratings.
The Milwaukee Police Department deferred a media request about increased security detail at the RNC to the U.S. Secret Service’s public relations team, which did not respond.
With the DNC slated to start Aug. 19 in Chicago, the Chicago Police Department said in a statement Sunday that it continues to monitor the situation that unfolded in Butler as it prepares for the upcoming convention. “We have been planning for the convention for more than a year to prepare for anything and everything. As always, CPD will assess and adjust resources as necessary in real-time, based on intelligence and what we are seeing on the ground to protect the entire city. We also remain in constant contact with our federal partners, who we are working closely with, to ensure dignitaries and areas around the convention footprint are secured,” the statement read.
Thirteen of 45 U.S. presidents have been subjected to assassination attempts — four of them killed, according to the Congressional Research Service.
