Homeless Shelter Killing Comes as City Tries To Get Homeless Off the Streets

By
Robert Lewis
WNYC News | Jan 28, 2016

Police are looking for a 21-year-old who allegedly killed another homeless man in a Manhattan shelter Wednesday night. Police believe Anthony White cut his 62-year-old roommate’s throat at an East Harlem shelter following an argument.

Anthony White, 21
(NYPD handout)

The killing comes as the mayor's office is trying to address a swell in the homeless population on the streets. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced the City Comptroller's Office would inspect shelters.

Police Commissioner William Bratton acknowledges that many people won't leave the streets because of violence in the system.

“One of the first things they talk about is the lack of safety from their perspective in the shelters. I don't deny or doubt that they have those concerns,” Bratton said Thursday morning. But he added that crimes like murder are rare at shelters.

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