Photo Courtesy of Armen Armenian/ Facebook
On Tuesday, gunfire erupted, and a smoke bomb was detonated inside a New York City subway car in Brooklyn. Almost 30 people were injured, including ten individuals who were shot.
Reuters reported that the perpetrator was a Black man described as having a “heavy build” who wore a mask and wearing a green construction-type vest with a hoodie and is still at large. New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, during a press conference, described the harrowing incident, saying,” This morning, as a Manhattan-bound N train waited to enter the 36th station, an individual on that train donned what appeared to be a gas mask, he then took a canister out of his bag and opened it.”
“The train at that time began to fill with smoke. He then opened fire, striking multiple people on the subway and in the platform.”
Although the NYPD hasn’t called the incident an act of terrorism, it hasn’t been ruled out. The 36th Street station within Sunset Park was filled with smoke as the subway arrived. Video footage revealed frightened passengers emptying the cars leaving mayhem.
Police sealed off a dozen blocks, and yellow crime scene tape closed off the immediate area. The NYPD and federal law enforcement officials gathered at the scene to get accounts of what occurred.
One man who worked nearby said that he thought the commotion was a melee on the train.
“But then I saw all the police. … This country is like that. It’s crazy. Today it’s New York, tomorrow it’s Washington, then it’s Chicago,” Tacho Ramos said.
Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer at radio station WNYC, spoke with Gothamist describing the pandemonium she saw and heard as gunshots rang out in the attached subway car.
“The reaction of the passengers was terrifying because they were trying to get into our car away from something that was happening in the back of the train.”
Officials are still looking for the suspect.