It seems New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ ghostwriter got a little carried away. His years-old book details a chilling incident of a close call school shooting. However, Adams said the incident did not even happen.
Adams’ 2009 book, “Don’t Let It Happen,” is described as a “life saving resource” for parents who suspect their children are at risk. The mayor, who was then a freshly retired NYPD officer, discusses his life growing up in Southside Jamaica, Queens and uses his childhood experiences to highlight signs of harmful behavior. In one incident, the mayor details a moment in school when he was a child where one of his friends allegedly brought a gun to school. Him believing the gun was just a toy, pointed the barrel toward his friends and suddenly, he realized the “toy” was a real weapon.
“A round discharged, and only by the grace of God and my poor aim did the bullet miss my friends. The incident scared me so much that I dropped the gun and ran,” the book excerpt reads, according to The AP’s report.
However, after this bit went circulating again, Adams confirmed in a news conference this week that this seemingly traumatizing incident didn’t occur at all. He said he never fired a gun in school and suggested his co-author “misunderstood” an incident where “someone” pointed a gun they believed to be a toy.
Well, that’s weird. His book says he’s the only author (besides Tracy Collins who penned the forward) and has that funny “all incidents are true” disclaimer in the introduction. However, this doesn’t come as a surprise given his past record of phony accounts.
Read more from The Associated Press:
But some of the personal stories, which are often difficult to verify, have drawn scrutiny. He has admitted to The New York Times that a confrontation he claimed to have had with a neighbor, which he recounted in a 2019 commencement address, actually happened to someone else. And he has faced questions about minor changes he has made to an oft-repeated story about being beaten up by police as a child.
In 2020, Adams penned a cookbook promoting “plant-based” recipes. But two years later, he conceded that he sometimes eats fish, despite describing himself as a vegan in the past.
Adams confirmed in the press conference that the book never went to print due to a lack of proof-reading. However, it’s listed on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Besides the controversy of, the biggest concern should be the ethics behind fabricating an account of an incident that happens in real life. A study from Inquiry Epidemiology found children often mistake guns for toys or nonlethal objects. Not the mention, over the past year we’ve seen story after story of children discharging real firearms at other children or even themselves.
The topic of gun violence remains widely debated given the consistent rate of senseless shootings. It shouldn’t be a topic to be played with.