Former President Donald Trump is calling out the climbing crime rate, following a shooting outside Nationals Park that sent players and fans scurrying for cover in another instance of violent crime plaguing the nation’s metropolitan areas.
“Crime in our Country is escalating at a pace we’ve never seen before. At the same time, people are pouring through our Borders totally unchecked. Jails in other countries are being emptied out into the United States,” Trump said in an emailed statement on Sunday.
He said crime was “far worse” in cities than believed during the 2020 presidential election.
Shots were fired outside the stadium on Saturday evening during the sixth inning of a game between the Washington Nationals and the San Diego Padres.
Three people were wounded.
The gunplay sent off a panic inside the stadium, with players running into the stands to take their families to safety and spectators streaming to the exits.
Big cities across the country have been plagued by an increase in shootings and murders, leaving lawmakers struggling to find answers.
In 2020, murders jumped by about 25 percent across the country.
Washington, DC, saw its homicide rate hit a 16-year high in 2020 with 198 people killed and 920 shot.
Statistics released by the Metropolitan Police Department show that there have been 101 killings in DC already this year.
Chicago is also dealing with a dramatic spike in murders and shootings.
Over the weekend, 60 people were shot, 10 fatally in the Windy City, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
According to the newspaper’s database, which tracks individual murders, 772 people have been killed in Chicago in the past year.
The city has seen 382 murders already this year — five less than last year at this time, but 48 percent more than 2019.
In NYC, according to the latest NYPD crime stats from last month, shootings are up 68 percent in 2021 with 602 shooting incidents wounding or killing 687 victims.