NEW YORK – At least eight people were shot dead and eight others injured when a gunman filled a subway train at rush hour with smoke and opened fire on Tuesday morning.
Police are still searching for the suspects.
Officials said at least eight people were injured in the shooting, and at least 16 were injured in some way in the attack on the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighborhood.
According to a number of law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation, preliminary information indicates that the suspect who escaped was a man wearing a construction vest and gas mask.
THIS IS AN UPDATED NEWS. The previous history of the AP follows below.
A gunman filled a subway train at rush hour with smoke and shot dead several people Tuesday, leaving injured passengers bleeding on a platform in Brooklyn while others ran screaming, authorities said. Police are still searching for the suspects.
Officials said at least five people were injured in the shooting, and at least 11 were injured in some way in the attack on 36th Street in the Sunset Park neighborhood.
The video of a train driver shows smoke and people pouring out of a subway car. Soldiers explode as passengers run to the exit while several others limp off the train. One falls to the platform and a man shouts, “Someone call 911!” In other videos and photos from the scene, people tend to have bloodied passengers lying on the platform, some among what looks like small puddles of blood, and another person on the floor of a subway car.
“The door to the subway opened for me in distress. There was smoke and blood and people were screaming, “eyewitness Sam Carcamo told 1010 WINS radio, saying he saw a giant stream of smoke pouring from train N after the door opened.
According to a number of law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation, preliminary information indicates that the suspect who escaped was a man wearing a construction vest and gas mask.
Investigators believe the suspect set up a smoke device before opening fire, a law enforcement official said. Investigators are investigating whether the suspect may have used the device to distract people before firing, the officer said.
Firefighters and police investigated reports of an explosion, but the police department tweeted that “there are no active explosive devices at the moment.” Numerous smoke devices were found at the site, said Mayor’s spokesman Fabien Levy, who confirmed the initial number of shooting injuries.
At least 11 people are being treated at two local hospitals. No MTA workers were physically injured, according to a statement from the Local 100 Transport Workers’ Union.
Julianne Fonda, a broadcast engineer at WNYC-FM, told the Gothamist news site that she was on the train when passengers in the car behind her began pounding on the door between them.
“There were a lot of bangs and there was smoke in the other car,” she said. “And people were trying to get in and they couldn’t, they were knocking on the door to get in our car.”
President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland were briefed on the incident, as was Governor Katie Hochul. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is isolated after a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday, was briefed at the mayor’s residence.
The incident took place on a subway line that runs through southern Brooklyn in a neighborhood – mostly home to Spanish and Asian communities – about 15 minutes by train to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street, have been locked.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just left his son at school when he saw a crowd of passengers, some of them injured, running up the subway stairs at a nearby 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
“It was crazy,” he told the Associated Press. “Nobody knew exactly what was going on.”
Alan Lee was running his business, Cafe Nube, when half a dozen police cars and firefighters suddenly gathered in the block that contains 36th Street Station.
“Then they started bringing people who were in the block to the next block and then closed the entrance to the subway” near the door of the cafe, he told the AP. When he saw police officers and dogs from the bomb department, he was sure that this was not an everyday problem with the subway.
A sea of emergency lights could be seen from at least a dozen blocks where a police cordon was set up.
In recent months, New York has faced a wave of shootings and high-profile incidents, including in the city’s subway. One of the most shocking was in January, when a woman was pushed to death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat just over 100 days after his term, put the fight against crime – especially in the subway – the focus of his early administration, promising to send more police officers to stations and platforms for regular patrols. It was not immediately clear whether police officers were already at the station when the shooting occurred.
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Associated Press reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington and Michelle L. Price and Jennifer Peltz contributed to the report.
There are currently NO active explosive devices for the many people shot at Brothlin’s 36th Street Subway Station. All witnesses were asked to call @NYPDTips on # 800577TIPS. Please stay away from the area. More information provided when available. pic.twitter.com/8UoiCAXemB
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