An “innocent bystander” was shot in Times Square on Sunday near the Marriott Hotel, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

“Samuel Poulin, 21, a Marine, was with his wife, sister and brother-in-law outside the Marriott Hotel on West 45th Street and Broadway when he was hit in the upper back by a ricocheting bullet just after 5:15 p.m.,” the New York Post reported. The man is seriously injured, but he is expected to survive.

The two suspects have not been caught, but police believe the gunfire was a result of a dispute between two groups. Both suspects are described as Hispanic males, Fox News reported.

NYPD Crimestoppers released surveillance video Monday showing one of the suspects firing a gun in the middle of Times Square.

The shooting took place just down the street from where another shooting occurred last month. In that shooting, two adults and a 4-year-old child were injured.

Shootings in NYC rose 73 percent in May of 2021 compared to the same time last year, according to data released by the NYPD. The previous month’s numbers show that shootings were up 166 percent in April of 2021 compared to the same time last year. While crimes such as robbery, burglary, and grand larceny were down from last year, violent crimes have risen in every category.

Eric Adams, who is running for mayor of NYC, released a statement on Sunday saying “the trauma and bloodshed are real.” It said in part:

The news of another shooting in Times Square, in broad daylight, is a chilling reminder of the rising threat of gun violence across our city. The spike in victims and incidents are not just statistics on a report; the trauma and bloodshed are real. We cannot have a real economic recovery from COVID-19 if our centers of business and tourism are perceived to be unsafe.

Despite the rising numbers, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) restated her support for defunding police last week, asserting the crime surge is just “hysteria” and making “responsible decisions about what [funds] to allocate” away from police departments is “important,” Breitbart News previously reported. Moreover, President Joe Biden has blamed guns for increasing violence in big cities and proposed “a range of programs” to keep Americans from pulling the trigger.

Biden’s senior adviser Cedric Richmond blamed a nationwide crime surge on guns Sunday and said Republicans defunded the police earlier in the year because they failed to support Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, Yahoo News reported.

In contrast, Republicans blame Democrats for the rise in violent crime after they embraced the radical left anti-police agenda promoted by the Black Lives Matter movement, Breitbart News reported.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio approved shifting $1 billion away from the New York Police Department last summer. Subsequently, from January 1 through May 23, 2021 there were 531 shootings in the city, up from 295 during the same period last year. The mayor is walking back his plans by reinstating $92 million to build a new precinct cut from the budget last year.