A man with an apparent up-close account of the Brooklyn subway shooting shared details of the ordeal Wednesday.
Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America" program, Kenneth Foote-Smith relayed the tense moments which occurred on the Manhattan-bound N train at the 36th Street subway station.
Foote-Smith said he witnessed the suspected gunman detonating a smoke canister, sending commuters into panic.
He then saw a woman screaming and banging on a train door, along with a man trying to open the door, while "fighting for his life."
"That's when I knew something was very, very wrong, and that's before the gunshots even happened," Foote-Smith told ABC.
Ultimately, 10 people were shot by the gunman, according to the New York City Police Department. Overall, 29 people reported injuries.
On Wednesday afternoon, after a daylong manhunt, Frank R. James, 62, was arrested and charged with a federal terrorism offense.
From Foote-Smith's perspective, the first interruption to his commute was "a loud bang, sounded almost like glass breaking."
He then added: "Everyone on my train got up and hurriedly moved toward the conductor's door; and before I could turn to see what they were fleeing from, there were three loud bangs — and it was much closer and a much different noise than that first bang."
On the next subway car, Foote-Smith saw a man "banging on our door, trying to open it up with all the ounce of power he can — and the door is not moving."
Around that point, smoke started filling up the neighboring car.
"Once my eyes adjusted to this really thick, white smoke filling up the car, I saw faces pressed against the glass of their subway connector door. And it was women's faces and they were screaming, they were banging on the door," said Foote-Smith.
"And once we saw that gentleman banging on the door — fighting for his life, that's when we noticed — that's when I knew something was very, very wrong, and that's before the gunshots even happened."
The gunshots then erupted as the train approached the 36th Street station.
"It was three or four quick 'pop, pop, pops,'" recalled Foote-Smith, "and everyone on my train immediately knew what it was."
"No one screamed or said anything, we were just pleading with the conductor to please move this train," said Foote-Smith. "He does eventually come out and sees the smoke — and the smoke at this point has now completely filled the car. I can't see into the [neighboring] railway car anymore, and people spilled out onto that small platform between the trains and the screams have now increased."
Foote-Smith added: "This is the moment when the gentleman in our train decides to try and open the subway connector door from our side — after we were frozen in fear for maybe the longest 30 seconds of our life — and the door still jammed. ... Now we have to watch as people scream and struggle and try and fight for their lives for something we don't know."
In the final moments of chaos, more gunshots rang out as the train reached the station platform.
"As soon as the subway doors opened, it's a sea of people coming out of the subway," he said. "I saw people with gunshot wounds and stumbling and pushing people over, coughing and choking on smoke."
Foote-Smith also recalled a conductor leading passengers onto another train.
"My first thought when we got on that train, though, was, 'Is the shooter still with us?'"
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