Police searching for shooter after at least 29 injured in chaotic Brooklyn subway train attack
An official said officers around New York City are being told that if they spot the U-Haul truck moving in traffic, they should initiate stop it and detain all occupants immediately.
Mayor Eric Adams told MSNBC Tuesday afternoon that authorities had recovered "solid evidence" and were "zeroing in" on a possible identity of the gunman. But he said he couldn't put "a timetable" on an arrest.
The attack unnerved a city on guard about a rise in gun violence and the ever-present threat of terrorism. It left some New Yorkers jittery about riding the nation’s busiest subway system and prompted officials to increase policing at transportation hubs from Philadelphia to Connecticut.
The shooting occurred before 8:30 a.m. on a Manhattan-bound N train in Brookyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference.
The train was waiting to enter the 36th Street station when a man put on a gas mask and opened a canister. The train then began filling up with smoke and the man began firing, Sewell said. The shooter, whom Sewell described as a Black male with a heavy build, was wearing a green construction vest and a gray sweatshirt, she said.
New York City Fire Department First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said 10 people were shot.Sewell also said none of the injuries were life threatening.
Firefighters responded to a call for smoke at the subway station at 36th Street and 4th Avenue. Crews found the shooting victims and several "undetonated devices," according to the New York City Fire Department statement.
Sewell said Tuesday afternoon there were no known explosive devices on the train. The incident was not being investigated as an act of terrorism "at this time," but she asked for the public's assistance with any photos, videos or information about the incident and alleged shooter.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said New Yorkers' "sense of tranquility and normalness was disrupted brutally by an individual so cold hearted and depraved of heart that they had no caring about the individuals that they assaulted."
In addition to the gunshot victims, other people suffered from smoke inhalation, shrapnel wounds and other injuries related to the panic that ensued after the shooting, Kavanagh said.
Twenty-one people were taken to NYU Langone Hospital – Brooklyn, after the attack. Ten were released by Tuesday afternoon. The 11 remaining patients were being treated for injuries including gunshot wounds and smoke inhalation. They are all in stable condition, spokeswoman Lacy Scarmana said. New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Hospital said three patients injured in the attack were being treated. One was shot, another had a fractured bone, and the third was non-trauma related. All three were in stable condition.
Another five people were treated at Maimonides Medical Center, spokeswoman Suzanne Tammaro said. Three were treated for smoke inhalation and were released. The other two had been shot and have non-life threatening injuries.
Avellana De La Cruz, 25, was texting her boss that she would be late to work while waiting for the subway when dozens of people, some with bloodstains, started running out of the station. De La Cruz said people were crying and shouting while others stood, calling the police or recording with their phones.
Confused, De La Cruz remained at the station until an announcement told riders to evacuate. As she was exiting the station, De La Cruz said a woman, covered in blood with a wound across her face, asked for help finding police. Together, they left the subway and found an ambulance.
"One minute I was on my phone and the next everyone was running and crying," De La Cruz said.
"It was chaos in there and hard to focus on whether the attack was really over," she added.
Tim O’Donnell, 31, who regularly commutes into Manhattan on the N train, said he had headphones in when he heard a conductor tell riders to board a local R train across the platform. Then he heard the loudspeaker announcement to evacuate.
On the way out, O’Donnell said he saw a man with his pant leg rolled up and what appeared to be a bloody gash on his leg. O'Donnell thought the man may have fallen on the steps with drizzling rain, but he started receiving texts about the shooting as he headed home.
Rogelio Miranda, a cashier at a nearby supermarket, said he was working an early shift when a woman came inside screaming "there's blood all over the station" and ran into the restroom. The store stayed open and people came inside to wait for cabs and Ubers, Miranda said.