At least five people were shot and eleven others injured Tuesday at a New York City subway station during a morning rush hour attack.
Reports of smoke were made at about 8:30 am at the 36th Street station in the Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. Fire personnel who were the first to respond found at least 11 people were hurt, but scope of their injuries – aside from the five that were shot – was not clear.
According to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation, initial information indicated that the suspect who fled the scene was a man wearing a construction vest and a gas mask.
Video of the aftermath of the shooting appears to show commuters wounded an bleeding on a train platform with police searching for the shooter. They also showed people helping passengers who were bleeding and lying on the floor of the station . Smoke can be seen in the air.
The video shows people lying along side what appeared to be small puddles of blood, as a loudspeaker announcement told everyone to get on a train. Inside a subway car, a person can be seen laying on the floor.
Outside the station, a police officer yelled, “Let’s go! Get out of the way!”
An eye witness told a local radio station that he saw a large cloud of smoke pouring out of the N train once the door opened,
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming.”
Officials were initially investigating reports of an explosion, however the police department tweeted that there were “no active explosive devices at this time.”
A mayoral spokesperson Fabien Levy, said that multiple smoke devices were found on the scene. Levy also confirmed that five people were shot.
Trains servicing that station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not have any more details. Mayor Adams was at his home during the attack is being briefed.
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through south Brooklyn in a neighborhood about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan. Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the street, were locked down.
Danny Mastrogiorgio of Brooklyn had just dropped his son off at school when he saw a crush of passengers, included multiple wounded, running up the subway stairway at the 25th Street station in panic. At least two had visible leg injuries, he said.
