A shooter wearing a gas mask pumped thick black smoke into a packed New York subway vehicle and opened fire on morning rush-hour commuters, hurting more than 20, including ten with bullet wounds.
On Tuesday, a search was launched after the gunman left the area. Authorities also discovered a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with extended magazines, a hatchet, a black trash can, exploded and undetonated smoke grenades, and a key to a U-Haul truck at the site. The car was found and will be checked by a bomb squad.
Bullet wounds, smoke inhalation, and the physical impacts of terror were among the injuries sustained by injured passengers. Nobody was reported to be in imminent danger of death.
“We’re not going to stop until we locate the criminal,” Joe Biden declared Tuesday afternoon. He expressed gratitude to professional first responders and citizens who raced to assist other tourists in the midst of the chaos.
The US president spoke at an event in Iowa as New York Mayor Eric Adams suggested that officials were preparing to reveal the gunman’s identify, who remained at free.
Frank James, 62, was subsequently named as a person of interest in connection with the shooting. James leased the U-Haul vehicle in Philadelphia and has residences in both that city and Wisconsin. As of late Tuesday night, authorities had taken no one into custody. A $50,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the event.
On Tuesday morning, vivid images and video recordings shared on social media depicted the harrowing events on the platform of the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighbourhood at 8.30 a.m. Wounded passengers were observed laying down as others applied tourniquets on their legs to stop the bleeding.
Another phone shot showed blood splattered throughout the train compartment and out onto the platform, suggesting the location of a person being carried to safety. Passengers were heard screaming as they raced to flee the gunman.
Biden said that he and first wife Jill Biden were “prayers for everyone affected by this tragedy.”
Keechant Sewell, the commissioner of the New York City Police Department, recalled the events that unfolded soon before 8.24 a.m. when a N train destined for Manhattan travelled between the 59th and 36th Street stations.
“An person on that train looked to be wearing a gas mask,” Sewell said. “He then extracted a canister from his backpack and popped it open.”
“At that point, the train started to fill with smoke,” Sewell added. He then opened fire on the subway and platform, hitting many people.”
The commissioner said that there was no known motivation for the suspect’s acts. She attempted to assuage New Yorkers’ fears by stating that the incident was not being examined as an act of terrorism, but subsequently said that she was “not ruling anything out.”
Agents from the joint terrorist taskforce, as well as FBI and NYPD police, were on the site. Biden and US Attorney General Merrick Garland were informed on the situation.The incident instilled terror and anarchy in New York City. According to witnesses, they heard so many gunfire that they lost count. Others reported hearing what sounded like fireworks or popping, confusing travellers.
