A gunman wearing a gas mask filled a crowded New York subway car with thick black smoke from a canister and opened fire on morning rush-hour passengers, injuring more than 20, including 10 with gunshot wounds.
A manhunt was under way on Tuesday after the shooter fled the scene. A 9mm semi-automatic handgun and extended magazines, a hatchet, a black garbage can, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades and a key to a U-Haul van were also found at the scene, authorities said. Officers located the vehicle, which will be examined by a bomb squad.
Brooklyn shooting Injured passengers suffered from bullet wounds, smoke inhalation and the physical effects of panic. Nobody was reported to be in life-threatening condition.
Joe Biden said on Tuesday afternoon: “We’re not letting up until we find the perpetrator.” He thanked professional first responders and civilians who rushed to help their fellow travelers amid the panic.
The US president spoke at an event in Iowa, as the New York mayor, Eric Adams, indicated the authorities were getting ready to share the identity of the gunman, who was still at large.
Authorities later identified Frank James, 62, as a person of interest in connection to the shooting. James rented the U-Haul van in Philadelphia and has addresses there and in Wisconsin. As of late Tuesday night, officials had no one in police custody. A $50,000 reward has been offered for any information in the incident.
On Tuesday morning Brooklyn Shooting, graphic photographs and clips posted on social media
On social media showed the traumatic scenes on the platform of 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighbourhood of Brooklyn around 8.30am. Wounded passengers were seen lying as others administered tourniquets to staunch bleeding from their legs.
Another phone image showed blood smeared inside the train carriage and out on to the platform, indicating where a rider had been dragged to safety. Footage captured passengers screaming as they scrambled to escape the shooter.
Biden added that he and the first lady, Jill Biden, were “praying for all those touched by this trauma”.
In a press conference, the New York city police commissioner, Keechant Sewell, described events that began shortly before 8.24am as an N train bound for Manhattan was travelling between the 59th and 36th Street stations.
“An individual on that train donned what appeared to be a gas mask,” Sewell said. “He then took a canister out of his bag and opened it.”
Sewell continued: “The train at that time began to fill with smoke. He then opened fire, striking multiple people on the subway and in the platform.”
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