A gunman left one dead in a subway shooting. Now he’s ‘NYPD’s most wanted’
“You are now the NYPD’s most wanted. You’ve got the greatest detectives in the world looking for you.”
Those were the words of Tarik Sheppard, NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information, on Monday night as he directly addressed the currently unidentified and at-large gunman who killed one man and injured five others in a shooting at a Bronx subway station.
The shooting unfolded during New York City’s rush hour on Monday afternoon, when two groups were arguing on board a subway train as it pulled into the Mount Eden Avenue station in the Bronx.
The verbal fight turned into a gun fight as at least one person pulled a firearm and opened fire, sending passengers desperately scrambling off the train to try to get to safety.
Six people were shot – one fatally.
First Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD Tania Kinsella vowed to catch whoever is responsible for the horror incident that left the lives of “innocent victims” changed forever. “We will get you, whoever was responsible for this,” she said.
Here’s what we know so far about the Bronx shooting:
The shooting
At around 4.35pm, multiple 911 calls were made reporting a shooting at the station.
The deadly incident had begun with an apparent dispute between two groups of teenagers on a busy northbound number four train during rush hour, police said.
NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said that the dispute intensified to the point of gun violence.
As the train pulled into the platform at Mount Eden Avenue subway station in the Bronx, the doors opened and people began to get off, at least one of the individuals within the two groups took out a gun and opened fire, police said.
People tried to flee from the train and onto the platform, but “more shots were fired while on the platform, and that’s when and where our victims were shot,” Mr Kemper said.
When asked if any rounds were actually fired inside the train, Mr Kemper said,: “We believe the shooting started when the train pulled into the station, the doors were open and as the people were exiting the train, we believe at least one shot was fired at that time.”
At the time of the shooting, there were around a dozen people on the platform, including children, according to a witness who spoke to CBS News.
“I heard gunshots, running, shooting, like, maybe, six times, five, six times. I heard two children screaming. And then, when I saw the train coming, that’s when I ran downstairs, because there was too many noise,” the witness said to the outlet.
Other witnesses described the shooting scene as “total pandemonium.”
Luis Rodrigquez, 34, told The New York Post that he was a passenger on the train. He heard children screaming and quickly ran out of the station as soon as he had disembarked. “It was total pandemonium,” he said. “It makes you scared to ride the train.”
Another witness called emergency services from her apartment close to the station, telling the outlet that she saw three teenage boys on the tracks after the shooting.
Two of them appeared to be having an argument, she said, while another one ran away. She also added that they were carrying book bags.
The shooting has also been described as “like a battlefield” as gunshots were fired.
Heriberto Paredes, a 52-year-old mechanic who works nearby, said that he saw a young woman whose coat was soaked with blood, and so he rushed to administer her first aid.
“What I heard sounded like a battlefield,” Mr Paredes told The New York Times. “I could see the despair on people’s faces, wondering how something like this could happen in a city that’s supposedly safe.”
Mr Kemper said that detectives do not think that the gunman was “firing indiscriminately” into a crowd.
The scene was described as a “mass shooting” by New York Congressman Ritchie Torres, who also added that the shooting was “not random”.
“This is unacceptable, and when detectives make an arrest – and I’m very confident they will – there must be swift, immediate, strong consequences,” said Mr Kemper.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, the NYPD advised the public to avoid the area of Jerome Avenue between Inwood Avenue and Townsend Avenue.
The victims
It is believed that members of the two groups of teenagers, as well as bystanders, were among the victims shot in the incident.
In total, six people were shot, including one man who died.
The 35-year-old man was rushed to St Barnabas Hospital after the shooting but succumbed to his injuries.
Five other victims were treated at the scene and transported to hospital, but their injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.
The surviving victims include two teenagers – a male and a female. The 15-year-old male was shot twice, once in the thigh and once in the ear, and the female, 14, was shot in the foot, an NYPD spokesperson confirmed to The Independent.
A 29-year-old woman was also shot in the face and neck, and a 28-year-old man was shot in the right arm.
The fifth injured victim was a man aged 71.
The shooter
As of Monday, the shooters remain at large.
No arrests have been made, and the suspects’ identities remain a mystery.
The weapons used have also not yet to be recovered by authorities.
The NYPD has released images of two male suspects they are seeking to identify who were on the northbound number four train platform at the time of the shooting. They are also seeking a third suspect, but have not released an image of that individual.
Officials have warned whoever is responsible that they will be caught.
Tania Kinsella, First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, said on Monday: “Today, another senseless act of violence occurred on our transit system. We have innocent victims, and we want New Yorkers to know that we will get you, whoever was responsible for this.”
“YOU are now NYPD’s MOST WANTED, and the World’s Greatest Detectives will find you,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry added on X. “You WILL be brought to justice.”
Authorities are currently assessing surveillance footage from the scene and collecting forensic evidence.
