The police were seeking a man in a worker’s vest and gas mask after emergency workers responded to a chaotic, bloody scene on a Sunset Park subway platform during the morning rush.
Here’s what you need to know:
Shooting in subway comes amid rise in gun violence across the city.
Schools shelter in place and businesses close as the search for the attacker continues.
Eric Adams is overseeing the response to the shooting while isolating after a positive virus test.
A rise in shootings has rattled the city and colored perceptions of public safety.
Tuesday’s shooting is reminiscent of a string of other incidents in recent years.
Multiple people were shot in the subway system in Brooklyn during the Tuesday morning rush, officials said, a violent episode that came amid fears about public safety as New York City struggles to recover from the pandemic.
Police officers were called to the 36th Street station, where the D, N and R lines pass through the Sunset Park neighborhood, around 8:30 a.m., the Police Department said. The Fire Department said that 13 people were injured, several by gunfire. Police officials said that preliminary reports suggested that five people were shot.
A senior law enforcement official said that the police were seeking a heavyset man with a gas mask and an orange construction vest who had been wearing a dark blue outfit that appeared to resemble that of a transit worker.
The official said that investigators believed that a smoke bomb went off and that the gunman had shot from inside a subway train. Videos posted on social media showed panicked riders pouring from a train and onto a platform at 36th Street as smoke billowed through the station.
A Police Department spokesman said that no active explosive devices had been found at the scene.
The area around the station was surrounded by investigators and cordoned off.
On Fourth Avenue near 35th Street, dozens of police vehicles with flashing lights stretched down at least four blocks. Officers blocked traffic as residents stood in small groups huddled on the sidewalk, seeking cover from the rain. At least two helicopters flew overhead.
Rows of reporters and emergency responders waited against crime-scene tape, and three police officers stood posted outside Sunset Park High School.
“We saw an ambulance coming out with a stretcher with a person on it,” said Silvana Guerrero, 20, who works at nearby Sunset Bagels Cafe & Grill. “Their leg was injured — I’m not sure exactly what went on or what was going on. And then, we saw after that, two ambulances coming out, with two people, like, hopping on one leg.”
President Biden had been briefed on the shooting, officials said. Mayor Eric Adams, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, was also monitoring the situation
