Several people were shot and injured at a New York subway station during a morning rush hour attack that left injured passengers bleeding on a train platform.
It was initially reported that five people were shot dead, law enforcement sources said.
Firefighters, responding to reports of smoke at 36th Street Station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park area around 8:30 a.m. local time, found that at least 13 people were injured, but – other than five shots – there were no details what injuries followed.
According to numerous sources in law enforcement agencies familiar with the investigation, according to preliminary information, the suspect fled in a construction vest and gas mask.
Photos and videos from the scene show people caring for bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station, and the air is filled with smoke.
Firefighters and police checked the reports of the explosion, but the police department wrote on Twitter that “there were no active explosive devices at the moment.”
Several smoke devices were found at the scene, Mayor’s spokesman Fabien Levy said.
“My subway door opened in trouble. It was smoke and blood and people were screaming,” eyewitness Sam Karkam told 1010 WINS radio, saying he saw a giant club of smoke pouring out of train N as soon as the door opened.
The video shows people lying on a subway platform among small puddles of blood, as a loudspeaker ad invited everyone on a smoky platform to board a train.
In the subway car a man was lying on the floor surrounded by others. Behind the station, a policeman shouted: “Let’s go! Get out of the way!”
The trains that served this station were delayed during the morning rush hour.
New York Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not immediately provide more details. Adams was at the mayor’s residence Tuesday morning and was undergoing briefings.
The incident happened on a subway line that runs through South Brooklyn in the area about a 15-minute train ride to Manhattan.
Local schools, including Sunset Park High School across the road, have been closed.
Alan Lee was running his Cafe Nube business when half a dozen police cars and fire trucks unexpectedly converged on the quarter.
“Then they started escorting people who were in the neighborhood, to the next quarter, and then blocked the entrance to the subway” near the door of the cafe, – he said.
When he noticed the explosives staff and the dogs, he was sure it wasn’t an everyday problem in the subway.
Governor Katie Hochul said in a statement that she had been informed of the situation and said her office would co-operate with transit authorities and police as long as the investigation continues.
Police officers covered 4th Avenue, the intersection of the station, asked eyewitnesses if they were on the train.
A sea of ​​emergency lights was visible from at least a dozen blocks where police cordon was displayed.
In recent months, New York has faced shootings and high-profile incidents, including in the city subway.
One of the most shocking was in January, when a woman was pushed to her death in front of a train by a stranger.
Adams, a Democrat just over 100 days old, has cracked down on crime – especially in the subway – in the spotlight of his early administration, promising to send more police officers to stations and platforms for regular patrols.
It was not immediately clear whether the officers were at the station when the shooting occurred.
