NYPD hunts woman who stabbed victim in Brooklyn subway shooting
NEW YORK — Police are searching for a woman who took part in the bloody Brooklyn subway brawl that ended with a 36-year-old man getting shot in the head.
The 5-foot-2 woman, who was wearing a black shirt with the word “Pink” in white lettering, was caught on video apparently stabbing the aggressor during a fight on a packed Manhattan-bound A train before the man pulled a gun during the Thursday afternoon clash, cops said.
The woman appeared to be with a 32-year-old man now in custody for wrestling the gun from the older rider and shooting him twice in the head, cops said.
No criminal charges had been filed against the shooter Friday as NYPD detectives conferred with Brooklyn prosecutors.
Although no decision has been made, investigators and prosecutors are “leaning toward self-defense” a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case said.
Speaking to reporters outside the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station in downtown Brooklyn Friday morning, NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said the woman was “involved in the incident.”
“She had a sharp object and cut (the victim) with the sharp object,” Kemper said.
The wounded man, a parolee who sparked the fight, remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition. He has a criminal record with arrests for grand larceny, robbery and a domestic criminal mischief, police sources with knowledge of the case said.
He was convicted in 2014 for a first-degree robbery he committed in Queens, according to court papers. After five years in prison, he was put on parole, which ended in 2022.
The victim currently lives in Brooklyn in supportive housing. Cops did not immediately disclose the wounded man’s name as cops track down family members.
If he survives, he may be charged with weapons possession for bringing both a gun and a knife into the transit system, police sources said.
The victim was already on the train when he began arguing with the younger man, who got on the train at a Bedford-Stuyvesant stop.
Prior to the shooting, the older man was seen on video yelling at the other passenger before the two squared up to fight, video viewed by the Daily News shows.
The duo did not appear to know each other before the scuffle on the train, Kemper said.
As the train continued on, the men came to blows, with the older man eventually holding the other one down with the weight of his body.
Shocking video shows the woman repeatedly strike the older man in the back as he exclaims, “You stabbed me? You stabbed me in the back?”
After a civilian breaks up the brawlers, the younger man and woman back into a corner as blood appears to stain the back of the 36-year-old’s shirt, the video shows. He points at the woman and again accuses her of stabbing him — then pulls a handgun out of his jacket pocket.
Panicked subway rider run to the other side of the train car, some cowering on the ground worried about getting hit by an errant shot.
“Let me out! Let me out!” one rider is pleading, according to the video.
Somehow, the younger man managed to wrestle the gun away from the victim and shoot at him four times.
The victim was hit twice in the head, once in the neck and once in the chest, police sources said. He was also stabbed twice in the back.
Cops doing an inspection at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station heard the shots and ran down onto the platform. They found the shooter exiting the train car with blood on his face and took him into custody.
The victim was found lying under the seats, covered in blood.
The gun, a .380 Ruger, was recovered at the scene.
Speaking on NY1 Friday, Mayor Eric Adams said the aggressor now fighting for his life appeared to have been suffering from a “severe mental illness.”
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.
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