A man was left critically injured after being shot multiple times Thursday afternoon after police allege he provoked another man on a subway train in Brooklyn, and was then shot by his own weapon.
At a news conference after the altercation, CBS News reports police said the victim was the one who initially had the weapon before the tables were turned on him.
Police said a 32-year-old man got on the train at Nostrand Avenue, when he was approached by a 36-year-old man acting aggressively.
The two men began arguing and then fighting before the 36-year-old first pulled out a knife, and then a gun.
That’s when the other man reportedly grabbed the gun, according to the CBS report, and shot the 36-year-old multiple times.
The attack came a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed hundreds of National Guard members and state troopers to check riders’ bags in an effort to deter crime so commuters could “feel safe.”
“Teams of mental health workers” were also promised by Hochul to calm riders.
The incident happened just before 5 p.m. on the northbound platform of the A/C line at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station.
Video posted on social media by an ABC News journalist who was aboard the train when it happened shows passengers crouched on the floor as officers are heard shouting on the platform.
Another video posted by a passenger shows the minutes leading up the shooting. A man paces about the crowded car and threatens to beat up a seated man. They fight until someone breaks it up. But the shouting continues, and one man pulls what appears to be a gun out of his jacket. “Stop! Stop!” passengers yell.The video does not show the actual shooting, though several loud bangs can be heard over the commotion of the passengers. Riders rush out when the doors open.
Police say a man was taken into custody, and charges are pending. A gun was also recovered. MTA CEO Janno Lieber gave an update on Friday morning, saying:
Today, what we’re thinking about are a couple things — the experience of those riders who were stuck on that train in that moment, which was intense and harrowing.
And two, the fact that there were cops in numbers right there in the station. It’s exactly what we’ve been telling the public we’re going to do, we’re going to make sure that there are cops in the system to react to any circumstance at any time.
Investigators are now searching for a woman who was traveling with the man in custody.
The shooting occurred amid new scrutiny of the subway’s safety after a recent spate of violent incidents created turmoil on the network.
In January, a 45-year-old crossing guard was shot dead on a train in Brooklyn after intervening in a fight.
A month later a 35-year-old man was killed and five other people were wounded after a violent argument broke out among teenagers on a train in the Bronx, as Breitbart News reported.
