Meanwhile, the police department has a description of the suspect and a person of interest is being sought by police, according to New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell. “The suspect is a dark-skinned male and was wearing a neon-orange vest and a grey-colored sweatshirt,” Sewell said during a press conference on Tuesday evening.
The suspect had opened smoke grenades on the train and fired his gun 33 times, striking at least 10 people Tuesday morning, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. Later at the scene, investigators found a Glock handgun, three extended magazines, two detonated smoke grenades, two non-detonated smoke grenades and a hatchet, Essig added.
According to NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, 10 people were shot and 13 others injured after a man wearing a gas mask opened fire and threw a smoke canister aboard the moving train during the morning rush hour. “He then shot multiple passengers as the train pulled into 36th Street station in Sunset Park. 10 people were injured by the gunfire & an additional 13 were either injured as they rushed to get out of the train station or they suffered smoke inhalation,” she said.
Biden in touch with New York officials:
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his team remains in close contact with the New York authorities after the mass shooting at a Brooklyn subway station and amid the ongoing manhunt.
“My team has been in touch with Mara Adams, New York’s police commissioner, and the Department of Justice, the FBI working closely with the NYPD [New York Police Department] on the ground,” Biden said. “We’re going to continue to stay in close contact with New York authorities and as we learn more about the situation over the coming hours and days.”
The gruesome incident:
A gunman in a construction vest donned a gas mask, set off a smoke canister on a rush-hour subway train and shot at least 10 people on Tuesday morning. The shooter was at large and described as dangerous after leaving wounded commuters bleeding on a Brooklyn platform while others ran screaming.
Five people were in critical condition but expected to survive. At least 16 in all were injured in some way in the attack that began on a subway train that pulled into the 36th Street station in the borough’s Sunset Park neighbourhood.
The attack unnerved a city on guard about a rise in gun violence and the ever-present threat of terrorism. It left some New Yorkers jittery about riding the nation’s busiest subway system and prompted officials to increase policing at transportation hubs from Philadelphia to Connecticut.
