Brooklyn Subway shooting gunman on the run after subway station shooting leaves 10 with gunshot injuries and up to 16 injured as city wide manhunt is launched for 5ft’5 black man in orange vest.
A gunman wearing a gas mask and orange construction vest is on the run after shooting at least ten people on a packed Manhattan bound N subway train in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, as it made its way towards the 36th Street station during rush hour on Tuesday morning.
Shortly before 8.30am, the gunman – described by witnesses as a 5ft 5 black man, weighing 170lbs, wearing an orange construction vest and gas mask, is thought to have let off a smoke grenade on a northbound N train as it moved towards 36th Street in Brooklyn.
Witnesses from the train car say they thought fireworks were being let off before they realized someone was in fact shooting at passengers in one end of the car.
Ten people were shot including one who is now in a serious condition, with 16 commuters in total injured; four suffering smoke inhalation, with five of the victims in critical condition the nytimes reported.
Some of the 10 wounded were in the same train car as the suspect. Others were on the platform, authorities said. The train was still moving when NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell during a morning press conference said the suspect donning a gas mask, threw a smoke canister on the subway car floor and started shooting.
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See footage from inside the train car where at least 13 people were injured and five were shot in an NYC subway shooting in Brooklyn, New York. Sources are reporting a possible smoke device was detonated during the incident. https://t.co/s7flP955tu pic.twitter.com/v9zaycOHcc
— CNN (@CNN) April 12, 2022
Watch: At least 13 people have been injured during a shooting incident at a subway station in the #NewYork City borough of #Brooklyn, authorities say.https://t.co/yjIFkqk4jC pic.twitter.com/U16F84lTRU
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) April 12, 2022
Act of domestic terrorism?
Terrified passengers were then trapped on the moving train until it entered the next station at 25th Street. Video shows them spilling out onto the platform as soon as the doors opened, coughing as smoke billowed out from the subway car.
Some passengers carried wounded victims off the train and lay them on the platform to render aid until help came. Others, fearing for their life, sought to leave the subway station.
Multiple smoke bombs were found at the 36th Street station, according to the FDNY.
Conflicting reports told of the NYPD describing the incident as an act of terrorism. Other up to date reports indicated that investigators had yet to say to say Tuesdays’ morning’s acts were being investigated as terrorism.
New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell described the suspect as Black male with a heavy build, wearing a green construction-type vest with a hooded gray sweatshirt. No known motive for the incident was immediately known.
The gunman remains at large nearly three hours after the shooting. NYPD units were scouring the city’s empty subway tunnels to find him as the city issued an Amber alert. Nearby Sunset Park schools were put in lockdown with an amber alert issued throughout much of the city.
NYPD units continued to scour the city’s empty subway tunnels looking for the gunman, who is thought to have jumped onto the tracks at 36th Street and fled.
#BREAKING: Video reportedly of Brooklyn Subway Shooting. pic.twitter.com/QriD4z62Gk
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) April 12, 2022
#BREAKING On the scene where a man wearing a construction vest and a gas mask opened fire and detonated a smoke grenade during a Brooklyn subway shooting on Tuesday morning, injuring 16 people, authorities said. Story: https://t.co/sO8HySPmRW pic.twitter.com/Vjh1yXPQKz
— Dean_Moses (@Dean_Moses) April 12, 2022
New Yorkers asked to remain vigilant amid uptick in violent crime
An FDNY spokesman told the dailymail: ‘Originally, the call came in as smoke in the subway station. Upon arrival, officers found multiple people shot and undetonated devices.
‘Thirteen people are injured. This remains an active scene,’ an FDNY spokesman said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned New Yorkers that the suspected gunman was still at large.
‘Tranquility and normalness was disrupted, brutally disrupted, by an individual so cold-hearted and depraved of heart that they had no caring about the individuals that they assaulted as they simply went about their daily lives. This individual is still on the loose. This person is dangerous,’ Hochul said.
The governor urged New Yorkers to remain vigilant.
Tuesday’s episode comes as shootings in New York City have risen this year, amid an uptick in violent gun crime.
The increase comes after gun violence hit historic lows in 2018 and 2019. But as New Yorkers emerged from the shutdowns that marked the start of the pandemic, many found the city more dangerous than it was when the coronavirus swept across New York in the spring of 2020.
