Man shot in head on packed Brooklyn train during rush hour, sending commuters running for lives
NEW YORK — A man was shot in the head on a packed Brooklyn subway train on Thursday, according to police — sending panicked rush-hour passengers fleeing out the doors.
A 32-year-old man got on the Manhattan-bound C train in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where he was met by a 36-year-old man who witnesses said immediately targeted him, police said at a Thursday evening news briefing.
The men got into a disagreement that boiled over when the older man flashed either a knife or razor blade, cops said.
The duo did not appear to know each other before the scuffle on the train, according to NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper.
As the train continued on, the men physically fought and the 36-year-old aggressor pulled a gun out of his jacket pocket.
“He then took that firearm and started walking toward the 32-year-old who was on the train, yelling at him, walking toward him in a menacing way,” Kemper said.
The younger man fought with the gunman, got hold of the firearm and fired multiple shots striking the older individual.
The chaos spilled out onto the Manhattan-bound A/C platform in the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station in Downtown Brooklyn just after 4:45 p.m., cops said.
“I was on the train and the train had stopped onto the platform, the doors opened and suddenly there were a rush of people who came and were screaming that someone had a gun,” said a woman who was on the train in a different car.
Multiple officers on the platform heard the shots and gave the 36-year-old gunshot victim medical assistance.
“NYPD was telling everyone to get down and stay down while the train doors stayed open,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified. “It was an extremely terrifying moment and people were afraid for their lives.”
As officers “descended” on the platform, many had their guns drawn as confused straphangers stayed down, according to the witness.
“People were crying, praying, huddled amongst each other hoping that the situation would lead to someone being caught and not the worst-case scenario.”
Medics rushed the 36-year-old, whose name was not immediately released, to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was fighting for his life Thursday evening.
Police took the shooter into custody on the platform and recovered a firearm there, according to cops.
Though there were no surveillance cameras on the older-model subway train, numerous passengers in the car recorded the incident on their phones, Kemper said.
Two MTA employees in the station recalled hearing about five shots.
“I ran and hid in a room,” said an employee. “I couldn’t bear it.”
In a post on X, the MTA warned of delays on Manhattan-bound A and C trains while cops continued to investigate.
“When you bring a gun on the train and you start a fight, it’s not right and it’s absolutely outrageous,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said at the news briefing. “It’s why we have to keep fighting against guns.”
Major crime, which the NYPD classifies as murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary and grand larceny, are up 13.2% in transit this year, according to police data.
As of Sunday, there were eight shooting victims in the city’s transit system. By the same time last year, there was just one such victim.
Last week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the deployment of 750 members of the National Guard and 250 state and MTA police officers to city subway stations to conduct bag searches after a spate of violent incidents across the system.
“No one heading to their job or to visit family or to go to a doctor’s appointment should worry that the person sitting next to them possesses a deadly weapon,” Hochul at the time.
The deployment came weeks after a shooting at a Bronx subway station that left one bystander dead and five others wounded.
No one from the new deployment was seen at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station on Thursday. Hochul’s office did not immediately answer a request for comment on the shooting.
Lieber on Thursday lauded her efforts in getting weapons out of the subway system.
“The governor is fighting these crazies who say guns should be able to be carried everywhere in the public space,” he said. “The real victims are the people I saw on those videos who were having a harrowing time because they’re on a train with somebody with a gun.”
_____
