NYPD identifies two men as suspects in deadly Bronx subway shooting
The NYPD has shared photos of two men it believes to be suspects in a deadly Bronx subway shooting.
An image shared on social media shows two men, both dressed in dark-coloured hoodies, who were allegedly at the Mount Eden Avenue station when the shooting occurred on Monday.
Police confirmed to The Independent that the men are considered suspects.
Three gunmen reportedly fired approximately 19 shots inside a subway train. The shooting is believed to have resulted from a chance encounter between two groups of people on the train.
One man was killed – identified by police as Obed Beltran-Sanchez, 35 – and five others, including a 14-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, were injured in the attack. Police believe five of the six victims were unintentionally shot, but have said the 15-year-old may have been an intentional target.
Mr Beltran-Sanchez was reportedly shot multiple times in the chest, according to police.
A third suspect is also reportedly being sought, but police have not released an image of that individual.
The suspects are considered the “NYPD’s most wanted”, according to the police department.
Officials said when the doors to the train opened, one man showed he was armed, which sparked the shootout.
“This is unacceptable,” NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said in a press statement. “And when detectives make an arrest, there must be swift, immediate, strong consequences.”
He said police do not believe the shooting was random, and insisted that incidents like Monday’s shooting were “rare and unacceptable”.
“This is not indicative to what goes on in the subway system,” he said.
Witnesses described the scene as sounding like a “battlefield,” according to the New York Times.
Others said they witnessed blood-covered individuals fleeing the subway station while others scrambled for safety as gunfire continued at the stop.
Heriberto Paredes, who owns a nearby muffler shop, said he could see the fear and “despair” on the faces of those fleeing the violence.
“I could see the despair on people’s faces, wondering how something like this could happen in a city that’s supposedly safe,” Mr Paredes said.
Janno Lieber, the chief executive of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, praised Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams for working to limit the number of guns on the city’s streets, but admitted her despair over the shooting.
“New York’s heart breaks when people who are headed home and kids are coming home from school to do their homework and they’re subjected to random acts of violence like what occurred here late this afternoon,” she said on Monday.
Police are still searching for more information on the shooting, the suspects, and a possible motive on Tuesday.