Brooklyn man Matthew Fertig is raising money for the gun reform advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety by running 120 miles this weekend, from Manhattan to Montauk.
The long-distance runner told the Hamptons weekly Dan’s Papers that the herculean equivalent of 4-and-a-half marathons on Saturday and Sunday is a response to the Parkland, Florida, shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, where deranged gunman Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people.
“I was a senior in high school when the Parkland shooting happened and know several people that lost friends and family that day,” the 22-year-old said. “Sadly, four years later, we have made little progress in the fight to prevent gun violence and mass shootings in this country.”
Fertig has raised more than $6,400 of the $15,000 goal on a GoFundMe page as of early Saturday afternoon. He said more than 10 people have signed up to run at least one leg of the journey with him.
A three-year-old Chicago boy was fatally shot in the head over the weekend when his mother tried to flee a horrific road rage attack, police said.
Mateo Zastro had been sitting next to his siblings in the back seat of his mother’s SUV when a gunman opened fire at about 8.30 p.m. on Friday in the city’s West Lawn neighborhood.
Police said the family had just left a shopping mall when the little boy’s mom got into a confrontation with an unidentified driver, ABC7 reported.
It wasn’t immediately clear what sparked the road rage confrontation.
The mom tried to drive off but the suspect followed her and starting firing “several shots” into her vehicle, according to cops.
The little boy took a bullet to the head and was pronounced dead hours later at the Christ Hospital.
His three siblings and mom weren’t injured.
“That mother is still grieving. All she’s doing is clutching onto two dinosaurs … the baby’s favorite toy,” said Andrew Holmes, a community activist who spent hours with the grief-stricken family over the weekend.
He is offering a $7,000 reward for information on the suspect responsible for Mateo’s slaying.
“We can get these baby killers off the streets,” Holmes said.
Investigators are currently reviewing surveillance video in a bid to track down the shooter, according to cops.
They are looking for a red Dodge Charger or red Ford Mustang.
“Our vow to the child’s family and to the entire city is we will not rest until those responsible for this senseless and cowardly act of violence, are brought to justice,” 8th District Commander Bryan Spreyne said.
“To those responsible for taking this precious child’s life: do the right thing, the honorable thing, and turn yourselves in.”
The little boy’s death comes just months after 5-month-old baby Cecilia Thomas was killed when she was also struck in the head by a stay bullet in a drive-by shooting.
The baby had been riding with her father when a gunman opened fire on their car, according to police.
Rural residents have been up in arms since lawmakers passed legislation at the end of June banning firearms at a long list of venues including “sporting events” — which a prominent Democrat suggested would include gun competitions.
“I guess that’s covered by this,” Assembly Codes Committee Chair Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) told Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh (R-Saratoga) after she asked about the matter during a June 30 legislative debate.
“A lot of times New York is trying to be first — the first to poke back at the US Supreme Court because they didn’t like the concealed carry ruling … So [Democrats] tried to be first and then they’re not best. It was sloppy drafting,” Walsh told The Post.
Reps for the bill sponsors — Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins — did not respond to requests for comment.
But Dinowitz’s comment has led to lingering worries that Albany Democrats are shooting down a beloved pastime promoted by dozens of high schools teams from the Hudson to Lake Erie.
A petition to Gov. Kathy Hochul — who signed the legislation into law soon after it passed — circulated by shooting enthusiasts has received more than 3,300 online signatures.
“We’ve got musical kids, we’ve got kids that are in a bunch of sports,” McKenna Coniber, 17, told The Post about the LeRoy Trap Shoot Team in western New York. “It’s something you can do while playing another sport. It’s a great activity for everybody. It’s a male or female, whatever, whoever.”
Coniber shoots a Remington 11-87 shotgun every weekend with her dad and wants to become the best teen around when it comes to blasting clay pigeons with a 12-gauge.
While shooters and hunters are not always the same people, the Hochul administration says a carveout in the new law for the latter ensures shooting competitions will remain legal.
“Trap shooting, just like target shooting, is considered a hunting or hunter education activity,” Hazel Crampton-Hays told The Post, citing guidance about the new laws from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.
But the final answer to Walsh’s question hinges on regulations that are currently being developed ahead of the official implementation of the new restrictions on Sept. 1.
“Additional guidance related to facets of the new law is being developed by the state and will be released publicly once it is finalized,” Crampton-Hays added.
“Under the law, these shooting activities, including target shooting at ranges, will continue to be legal and allowed,” state police spokesman William Duffy said in a statement.
“The state is developing detailed guidance concerning the requirements under the new law. That guidance will be released publicly once it is finalized.”
Uncertainty about the future of shooting sports is hardly the only issue gun lovers have with the new laws, which have also been criticized for supposedly banning hunters from using rifles within the Adirondack Park to bag their prey.
“The laws were so hastily put together and they’re so ambiguous and poorly written without understanding regarding anything about the culture or cultural heritage of upstate New York,” Tom King, president of the New York Rifle and Pistol Association, told The Post Thursday.
King’s group won the case in which the Supreme Court struck down a century-old state law that required applicants for a concealed weapons permit to prove to officials they have good reason to carry.
Democrats responded by passing the new gun control law, which might transform a legal victory for gun rights at the national level into a loss for shooting sports in the Empire State.
“It’s near and dear to my heart because this is what I do on the weekends,” Assemblywoman Marjorie Byrnes (R-Finger Lakes) told The Post.
“There is so much uncertainty as to what is or isn’t happening,” she added. “Nobody knows how to plan.”
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