Crime & Justice

New York authorities hunt for man who shot 10 on the subway

New York, Apr 12 (EFE).- The man who shot 10 people on the subway here Tuesday “is still on the loose,” New York state Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

“This person is dangerous. This is an active shooter situation right now in the city of New York,” she said during a press conference near the crime scene in the Big Apple borough of Brooklyn.

New York Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Keechant Sewell sought to ease New Yorkers’ fears.

“I want to begin by assuring the public that there are currently no known explosive devices on our subway trains and this is not being investigated as an act of terrorism at this time,” she said during the briefing.

None of the 16 people hurt suffered life-threatening injuries, Sewell said, while acting fire department commissioner Laura Kavanagh said that five of those with gunshot wounds were in “critical but stable condition.”

Based on an examination of footage captured by security cameras, police described the suspect as a Black man about 1.62 m (5’5 ft) tall and weighing roughly 80 kg (180 lbs).

A Manhattan-bound train was pulling into the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood just before 8:24 am when one of the passengers put on “what appeared to be a gas mask” and opened a canister that released smoke into the subway car, Sewell said.

“He then opened fire, striking multiple people on the subway and the platform,” the commissioner said.

The New York Post reported that investigators recovered a jammed Glock handgun and two high-capacity ammunition clips.

“It was lucky that it jammed because we could be talking about a lot more people in hospitals or worse,” an unnamed law enforcement source told the newspaper. “Dozens more people would have been wounded or more seriously injured.”

Images shared on social media showed people covered in blood being treated at the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is self-isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, pledged that the NYPD will find the suspect.

“We will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized even by a single individual,” the former NYPD captain said in a video. EFE

nqs/dr

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