A man was shot multiple times and seriously injured on a Brooklyn subway Thursday afternoon after police say he provoked another man into shooting him with his own weapon.
At a news conference after the altercation, police said the man who was shot was the first person to have a gun, CBS News reported.
Police said a 32-year-old man was boarding a train on Nostrand Street when a 36-year-old man approached him in an aggressive manner.
The two men argued and then began fighting, before the 36-year-old first pulled out a knife and then a gun.
That’s when the other man grabbed the gun and shot the 36-year-old multiple times, CBS reported.
The attack came a week after Gov. Cathy Hochul sent hundreds of National Guard troops and state troopers to search passengers’ bags in an effort to deter crime and give commuters “peace of mind.”
Hochul also promised a “team of mental health workers” to calm riders down.
CBS News New York report The incident occurred on the northbound platform of the Air Conditioning Line at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station just before 5 p.m.
Police said the man was taken into custody and charges are pending. A gun was also recovered. MTA CEO Janno Lieber provided an update on Friday morning, saying:
Here are a few things we’re thinking about today. It is the intense and harrowing experience of a passenger trapped on a train at that moment.
And secondly, there were a lot of police officers at the station. That’s exactly what we’ve been telling the public what we’re going to do, and we’re going to have police within the system to respond to any situation at any time.
Investigators are currently searching for the woman who was traveling with the detained man.
The shooting comes amid renewed attention to subway safety after a recent spate of violent incidents has disrupted the subway network.
In January, a 45-year-old railroad crossing guard was shot and killed on a Brooklyn train after intervening in a fight.
A month later, a violent altercation between teenagers broke out on a train in the Bronx, leaving a 35-year-old man dead and five others injured, Breitbart News reported.
