Source Hindustan Times, New Delhi
A masked gunman set off a smoke bomb and opened fire in a New York City subway car on Tuesday, injuring at least 16 people and throwing the morning commute into chaos in the latest violence in the city's transit system, according to reports. Ten people were shot in the incident, New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said, without saying how the other injuries occurred.
The perpetrator was still at large, and the incident was not currently being investigated as an act of terrorism, Sewell said, but would not rule out anything as a motive.
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Smoke billowed out as the train car pulled into the 36th Street station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighbourhood and opened its doors, the video showed. Riders trapped inside poured out, some collapsing to the ground. Images showed streaks of blood on the platform.
Unverified video footage circulating on social media appeared to show the smoke-filled train pulling into the 36th Street station, and passengers rushing off the carriage, some apparently injured.
A separate video posted on Instagram appeared to show passengers tending to bloodied victims lying on a smoky station platform.
Those images, also unverified, showed subway staff shepherding panicked passengers, some still clutching their morning coffee cups, off the platform and into the carriages of a stationary train.
An unidentified person can be heard saying that a fire had been set in the train car, and that he saw "at least eight people" shot.
The suspect was reported as a Black male with a heavy build, wearing a green construction-type vest and a hooded sweatshirt, Sewell said.
Outside the 36th Street station, in an area known for its thriving Chinatown and views of the Statue of Liberty, authorities shut down a dozen or so blocks and closed off the immediate area with yellow crime scene tape.
Tacho Ramos, who was working in a deli near the station, said he initially thought a fight had broken out on the train when he noticed a commotion.
"But then I saw all the police. ... This country is like that. It's crazy. Today it's New York, tomorrow it's Washington, then it's Chicago," he said.
WABC and NBC New York, citing law enforcement officials reported that the gunman had set off smoke canisters in the train. Reuters could not immediately confirm those reports. The New York Police Department was holding a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.
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