Tourists react to the shooting in Times Square

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Tourists who visited Times Square on Monday expressed fears for their safety – and the city’s future – after the second shooting there in as many months.

“Worrying about getting killed in a shootout was not in my itinerary when I booked this trip with my girlfriends—especially while touring the biggest attraction,” said Pat Flanagan of Cleveland.

“It’s actually more sad than scary because I want to see New York bounce back.”

Flanagan, 44, added, “Crime can be controlled if you control it. New York learned how to do it in the past, so why not do it now? It has the largest police department in the country and can’t stop people from shooting in Times Square?”

“Right now, tourism is back after COVID,” she said.

“Don’t kill her by allowing crime to break out.”

Police at the scene of a shooting near 45th Street and Seventh Avenue in Times Square. William C. Lopez / NYPOST

Retired teacher Arthur Escalera of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who was on vacation with his wife, said Sunday’s shooting made it seem like “you’re in a city that has lost the ability to police itself.”

“We remember Times Square the way it was in the ’70s and ’80s, and if we had tickets for a Broadway show, we would consider it a kind of walk on the wild side to walk 42nd Street at night,” he said.

But we never feared for our lives. Burglary was fear, but death by a stray bullet? never.”

Police patrol Times Square after another daytime shooting yesterday at a popular tourist destination on June 28, 2021 Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Megan Nash, a dental hygienist from Charlotte, North Carolina — who lives in a Hampton Inn a few blocks from the Sunday shooting scene — wasn’t aware of the incident until she learned about it from a reporter.

“This is crazy,” said Nash, 30.

NYPD released additional footage of the suspect

“I knew crime was rampant but I didn’t think things got so bad that people were shooting in Times Square.”

Nash added, “I would probably have chosen a different destination. I really just wanted to have fun, you don’t have to worry about me being randomly killed by a stray bullet.”

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