NYC NOW - Midday News: Mayor Adams Blames Easy Gun Access After Queens School Arrest, Pharmacies Roll Out COVID Shots Early, and 11 NYC Officials Free After Immigration Office Arrest

Episode Date: September 19, 2025

Mayor Eric Adams says Thursday’s arrest of a 16-year-old student at Cardozo High School in Bayside shows how easy access to firearms is putting New Yorkers at risk. Police say they found a loaded 9mm pistol with 13 rounds in the teen’s backpack after the FBI flagged a threatening Instagram post. Meanwhile, New York pharmacies are administering updated COVID-19 vaccines ahead of federal guidance, following an executive order from Governor Hochul. Plus, 11 New York City elected officials were freed Friday after being arrested outside 26 Federal Plaza, where they were protesting immigration enforcement practices. WNYC’s Arya Sunderam joins us to explain what happened and what it means.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, September 19th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. Queens High School student is accused of posting a loaded message on Instagram while carrying a loaded gun. WNMIC's Charles Lane reports. The FBI spotted the threat around 10 in the morning on Thursday and alerted the NYPD. officers arrested the 16-year-old at Cardoza High School in Bayside about an hour later. Police say they found a loaded 9-millimeter pistol with 13 rounds in the boy's backpack.

Mayor Adams blamed easy access to guns. This was a failure of a society that allowed a 16-year-old to get so close to shooting up a school and potentially killing classmates and teachers. He also said children are being radicalized and without saying by whom. Pharmacies in New York are starting to offer this season's COVID shots without waiting for the guidance out today from a key federal advisory committee. That advisory committee typically determines which shots pharmacies can administer, but its recommendations on COVID vaccines are coming late this year, and Governor Hokel issued an executive order this month, giving pharmacies the green light to move forward without those recommendations. Roger Paganelli facilitates a network of independent pharmacies.

The network that I represent has more than 200 pharmacies in New York City and Westchester and Long Island. And every one of our pharmacies was anxious to get these vaccines. Paganelli says insurance companies so far are covering the shots. We're at 81 degrees now in the city with sunshine, sunny and 82 with a light wind. And then this weekend, the last one of summer, high temperatures and the low 70s, Light wind, sunshine, and overnight lows in the 50s. Stick around. There's more to come. Eleven elected officials are free this morning.

Immigration enforcement arrested them yesterday. After denying them entry to the massive office tower in Lower Manhattan, known as 26 Federal Plaza. The building is the site of immigration hearings. In recent weeks, some elected officials have called attention to ICE officers arresting people leaving immigration hearings. WNYC's ARIA Sundaram joins us now to talk more about this. Ariah, what were city controller Breitlander and these other Democrats doing at Federal Plaza?

So they were demanding to enter ice holding rooms on the 10th floor of the building, and they said that they were not going to leave until they were allowed inside. Federal officials blocked them from entering after an hour of a back and forth with the lawmakers chanting, singing, even banging on locked doors. DHS officers moved in, zip-tied them. them and made their arrests. All 11 were released shortly after. At least some of them received criminal misdemeanor summonses for disorderly conduct or obstruction of thorough affairs in the building. And they're supposed to appear in federal court in two months. Tell us why they were trying to get in there.

So these holding rooms at 26 Federal Plaza have been the focus of intense scrutiny in recent months. So just earlier this week, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction requiring ICE to meet basic standards there, things like providing sleeping mats, toiletries, more meals, and confidential calls with attorneys. And those requirements have already been in place for a few weeks, but this injunction extended them indefinitely. And the ruling came after a lawsuit from the ACLU and make the road New York, who described the rooms as crowded, squalid, and punitive. Detainee said people were forced to sleep on the floor, sometimes for days at a time, with as many as 100 people packed into one room. Others reported getting just one meal a day. Women said they were getting,

given only two pads to share during their periods. And one man said he lost 24 pounds during his two weeks day. And advocates argue that's what's happening inside these rooms is unconstitutional. And the lawmakers wanted to see the reality for themselves and to verify whether ICE is complying with a judge's order and to bring public accountability to a space that's normally closed off. And I think it was also part of this larger stand against ICE's immigration crackdown in New York City. Pardon me. And this is not the only site where elected officials have been arrested.

for trying to see what's going on with ICE, right? That's right. You know, Comptroller Brad Lander, who was there, he himself has been arrested before in the same building on a different floor where there's an immigration court. He was escorting an immigrant man to the exit after his court hearing when he was arrested. And we've seen it outside New York, too.

You know, in Newark, New Jersey, Congresswoman La Monica McIver was indicted earlier this year after a pretty chaotic scene at a detention center called Delaney Hall. She says she was there to do a job, inspecting conditions with other members of Congress, Congress, but federal agents say she interfered as they tried to arrest Newark's mayor, Ross Baraka, on trespassing charges. Those charges against Baraka were dropped. McIver, though, still faces three counts of assaulting and impeding officers. She's pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial in November.

Her allies, including Baraka, say the charges are political playback, and they argue that the administration is trying to scare off elected officials from doing oversight. So, you know, it's not just local lawmakers trying to get into these confrontations. It's mayors, members of Congress, and they say it's about checking ICE and standing with their constituents. Federal officials, on the other hand, have a different perspective. What does I say? DHS officials dismissed the scene yesterday as a stunt. Assistant Secretary Trisha McLaughlin singled out Bradlander, actually, saying that he was obstructing law enforcement and putting officers in detainees at risk. She also pointed out the building was under lockdown because of a bomb threat, which made things even more tense.

And while federal law allows Congress people to inspect ICE detention centers, ICE argues that these holding rooms aren't open to lawmakers because they're for short-term processing. That's WNYC's Aria Sunderlanderam on the latest protests outside these immigration facilities. Aria, thank you. Thank you for having me, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Check us out for updates every weekday.

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