Prosecutors say New York subway shooting may have been self defense
NEW YORK — A man who shot and seriously injured another passenger on a New York City subway may have acted in self-defense and will not immediately be charged with any crime, prosecutors said Friday.
“Yesterday’s shooting in a crowded subway car was shocking and deeply disturbing. The investigation into this tragic incident is ongoing, but at this stage, evidence of self-defense prevents us from filing any criminal charges against the shooter,” said Oren Yaniv, spokesperson for Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez.
Thursday’s rush-hour shooting came a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul sent the National Guard into the subway system to help police search people for weapons, citing the need to make people feel safer after a series of crimes that have made headlines in recent months.
A video taken by a bystander and posted on social media showed a confrontation that began when one passenger cursed at the other and repeatedly threatened to beat him up. The two men faced off and fought before being separated by another rider.
Then the belligerent horseman who had initiated the confrontation pulled a pistol from his coat and cocked it. Passengers fled and cowered on the other side of the car, some shouting, “Stop! Stop!” No shots are fired, but gunshots are heard as passengers flee from the train as it arrives at a station.
Police said the 36-year-old man who pulled the gun lost control of it during the altercation. The other man, 32, got possession of the ball and shot him.
The man shot was hospitalized in critical condition. Police have not identified either man.
Michael Kemper, the head of the police department’s transit division, said at a briefing late Thursday that witnesses had reported the man who was shot was “aggressive and provocative.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former transit police officer, said he believes the man who was shot suffered from a “mental health illness.”
“When you look at that video, you see the connection between someone who, as I have seen, is dealing with a serious mental illness, which is creating a dispute over our subway system,” Adams said on radio station 77 WABC.
Adams urged state lawmakers to give New York City more authority to involuntarily remove mentally ill people from the streets and subway system.
NYPD Department Chief Jeffrey Maddrey said at a briefing Friday that the man shot had entered through an open emergency door without paying the $2.90 subway fare, and suggested the shooting highlights the need to crack down on tariff evasion.
“It is important that the NYPD enforces quality of life,” Maddrey said. “It is important that we maintain that service. People who do not pay the fare, we often see people entering the metro station to cause damage, but they never pay the fare.”
Violence in the New York City subway system is rare, but serious incidents such as the slashing of a subway conductor by a passenger last month and a shooting at a subway station in the Bronx have drawn attention.