By Brynn Gingras, Pervaiz Shallwani, Mark Morales, Kristina Sgueglia and Eric Levenson
NEW YORK – A male train passenger put on a gas mask, deployed a gas canister and then opened fire, shooting 10 commuters as a Manhattan-bound subway train headed into a station in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday morning, authorities said.
Five of the 10 people shot are in critical but stable condition and six others were injured in the attack during the morning rush, FDNY First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanaugh said.
None of the injuries are believed to be life threatening, NYPD commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
Sewell said there are no known active explosive devices and that the incident is not being investigated as an act of terrorism at this time. The suspect shot people on the train and on the platform, Sewell said.
The mass shooting occurred at about 8:30 a.m. when the Fire Department of New York was called to the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood for a report of smoke.
A male suspect possibly wearing a gas mask and orange construction vest fled the scene, police said, citing a preliminary report.
First responders encountered gunshot victims throughout the subway station and others who had been injured in the ensuing chaos, though it’s not clear how the others were injured. Authorities haven’t released detailed information on how the shooting unfolded yet.
The mass shooting comes amid a rise in shootings in New York over the past two years and a particular rise in violence on the subway that has become a focus of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. There have been 617 crime complaints so far this year on the transit system, a 68% increase from this point last year, NYPD data shows.
The incident is the second mass shooting, defined as at least four people shot, in Brooklyn this year and the fourth in New York State, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The first Brooklyn mass shooting of the year was on January 13 at a Brooklyn event hall.
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