NYC | Several People Shot In Subway In Brooklyn, Officials Say

Brooklyn, NYC | Multiple people were shot at a subway station on Tuesday in Brooklyn, New York, according to local news outlets. The shooting happened around 8:30 am ET in Sunset Park, near Fourth Avenue and 36th Street. The NYPD said there are no active explosive devices at this time. No arrests have been made and the motive is not clear, CBS reports.

This article includes content which may contain sensitive images from this developing news story.

The attack that has injured multiple people in the New York City borough of Brooklyn is being investigated as an act of terrorism, a New York Police Department official said.

The NYPD official said that the suspect, still at large and believed to be a 5-5, 175- to 180-pound Black male, entered the transit system at the intersection of 36th Street and 4th Avenue in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. Upon his entering a northbound R train, a dispute ensued, followed by the detonation of a smoke bomb.

The train continued to the next stop, where gunfire erupted, striking four to 10 people, according to the NYPD official, who said the suspect was believed to have worn a gas mask and orange construction vest. The description was confirmed to Newsweek by a federal law enforcement official who also said the suspect wore a uniform and utility belt from the city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).

A manhunt is currently underway for the suspect and power has been cut for the N and R Line from 59 Street to Atlantic Avenue.

A masked gunman detonated a smoke bomb and opened fire on a New York subway car on Tuesday, injuring 16 people and leaving the morning commute chaotic in the latest act of violence in the city’s transportation system, officials said. .

Ten people were shot in the incident, New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said, without saying how the other injuries occurred.

The shooter is still at large and the incident is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, the commissioner said without, however, ruling out the hypothesis.

According to released videos, smoke began to billow from the train car as it reached the platform at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Subway users ran out and some of them fell to the ground. Images showed traces of blood on the platform.

“This morning, an N Line train heading towards Manhattan and an individual on that train, wearing what appeared to be a gas mask, opened his bag and took out a can and opened it,” Keechant Sewell told a news conference.

“At that moment, the train began to fill with smoke. It then opened fire, hitting several people in the subway and on the platform,” added the commissioner.

The suspect would be a strong black male, who wore a green construction vest and a hooded shirt, he added.

Outside the 36th Street station, in an area known for its busy Chinatown and views of the Statue of Liberty, authorities closed off about a dozen blocks, and cordoned off the incident area with yellow tape to delimit the crime scene. Tacho Ramos, who was working at a diner near the station, said he thought there was a fight on the train when he noticed the movement.

“But then I saw the police… This country is like that. It’s crazy. Today it’s New York, tomorrow it’s Washington, then Chicago,” he said.

US President Joe Biden and Attorney General and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the latest news surrounding the attack, according to the White House and the Department of Justice.

White House staff reached out to New York Mayor Eric Adams and the police commissioner to offer assistance.

Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at radio station WNYC, told local news website Gothamist that she heard gunshots while in an adjacent subway car.

“The passengers’ reaction was terrifying because they were trying to get into our car to get away from something that was happening at the end of the train,” she said.

In recent months, New York City has seen a spike in gun violence in general, with a series of attacks on the city’s public transportation system, one of the oldest and most extensive on the planet.

Local and federal law enforcement officials gathered at the scene, watched by small groups of people huddled on sidewalks, sheltering from the drizzle under buildings. Many of the officers were wearing bulletproof vests and helmets.