Police search for suspect in Brooklyn subway shooting
Police name suspect after a man in a gas mask shot 10 people on a packed New York subway train during the morning rush-hour, setting off a smoke bomb before opening fire | WATCH
A manhunt is under way for the person who shot and wounded 10 people on a busy New York City subway train and platform Tuesday morning.
A Manhattan bound train was approaching the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn at about 8:30am ET when the suspect put on a gas mask and took a canister out of his bag and opened it, filling the train car with smoke, said New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
“He then opened fire, striking multiple people on the subway and on the platform,” Ms. Sewell said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The suspect shot and injured 10 people, according to the New York City Fire Department. Six others were treated for shrapnel wounds, smoke inhalation and panic, according to the FDNY. Victim ages ranged from teenage to middle age, a department spokesperson said. Five were in critical but stable condition.
Ms. Sewell described the subject as a 5-foot-5-inch Black man who was dressed in a green construction vest and a gray hooded sweatshirt.
At a briefing Tuesday evening, police said they found a van abandoned on a Brooklyn highway they believe the suspect used in connection with the shooting. Officials said they were searching for a man named Frank James, who officials said had rented the van. Mr. James is described as a person of interest in the investigation.
No motive has been established for the shooting and the incident isn’t being investigated as an act of terrorism, Ms. Sewell said. The suspect shot people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, she said.
New York Police Department officials said no active explosive devices have been found at the scene.
The 36th Street stop on the N and R train lines is a busy station in the mornings. The stop connects residents in the Sunset Park neighborhood to the major transit hub at Atlantic Avenue.
The station is one block from Green-Wood Cemetery as well as Industry City, a business and shopping center with over 500 companies and 50 shops across 16 campus buildings. The complex is packed with shoppers and families on the weekends, and workers at offices including co-working space Camp David on weekdays.
Sunset Park resident Charles Brown said he was going to head to the station to catch a train to Manhattan around the time of the shooting. He decided at the last minute to wait until rush-hour foot traffic subsided.
“As I was waiting, I heard helicopters and police cars rush in,” the 54-year-old said.
Schools in the vicinity went into lockdown, New York City Department of Education officials said. Children were permitted to enter school buildings and once inside were required to stay indoors. New York Police Department officials said there were no reports of injuries at schools or reports of criminal activity related to the shooting.
Two hours after the shooting, dozens of onlookers gathered around the police cordon as several helicopters flew overhead. Some asked those around them if they saw what happened, others asked for details and shared what they have heard.
Sunset Park resident Erik Frankel said he has been on alert in the neighborhood due to an uptick in crime. “It kept me up at night knowing how bad things are, knowing that I live here alone with a 4-year-old,” he said.
Mr. Frankel, a candidate for New York state assembly, called the shooting senseless. “I can’t conceive to understand what thoughts tiptoe through the Everglades of [the shooter’s] mind,” he said.
Shootings in the city are up 8.4% year to date, at 322 incidents, compared with 297 in the same period in 2021, according to the latest NYPD data. Police arrested 4,025 people for major crimes in March compared with 3,140 for the same month last year, officials said last week.
Mayor Eric Adams is being continually briefed about the shooting, an official said. Mr. Adams, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, has been working from home, according to his official schedule.
Mr. Adams, who took office on Jan. 1, has been in touch with police officials and asked New Yorkers to stay away from the area of the shooting in the Sunset Park neighborhood, according to a tweet from his spokesman.
Mr. Adams has made increasing public safety a centerpiece of his administration. The Democrat is trying to encourage white-collar office workers to return to Manhattan.
Mr. Adams, a former police captain, said in January the police department would deploy more officers on patrol to focus on illegal guns. He also said police would implement new tactics such as spot checks for weapons at points of entry like the city’s bus terminal and new units of plainclothes officers to replace anticrime patrols that were disbanded in 2020.
Homicides rose in 16 major U.S. cities in 2021, according to a study by the Council on Criminal Justice, a think tank focusing on criminal-justice policy and research. That followed one of the most violent years in decades, with FBI data showing murders in the U.S. up nearly 30% in 2020 from the prior year amid the coronavirus pandemic.
A rise in assaults on New York City’s subway system has also prompted new initiatives. The NYPD and Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in January that police would be increasing uniformed platform and subway patrols. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul separately announced a plan that would deploy behavioral health professionals to help connect the city’s homeless to shelters and services.
President Biden was briefed on the incident early Tuesday and senior White House staff were in touch with Mr. Adams and Police Commissioner Sewell to offer any assistance, press secretary Jen Psaki said. Attorney General Merrick Garland has received a preliminary briefing and is monitoring the situation in Brooklyn, the Justice Department said.
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