Charges will not be filed against a 32-year-old man who shot a gun Thursday in a crowded New York City subway car, with authorities saying he was acting in self-defense when he took a gun from an aggressor and shot him with it.
The shooting was "shocking and deeply upsetting," Oren Yaniv, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, said in a statement Friday, reported ABC News. "The investigation into this tragic incident is ongoing but, at this stage, evidence of self-defense precludes us from filing any criminal charges against the shooter."
The names of the shooting victim, nor the subway rider who shot him, have been released.
NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said the shots were fired as the train pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, which has an NYPD police transit office.
According to law enforcement officials, the shooting victim, a 36-year-old man, was armed with a gun and knife and was acting as the aggressor at about 4:45 p.m. Thursday.
Police said the man got into a verbal and then physical dispute with the 32-year-old, likely over a subway seat, and pulled a gun out. The other man, however, disarmed him and shot him with his own gun.
Police, citing cellphone video from a fellow rider, said that a woman who was with the shooter stabbed the 36-year-old victim before the shots were fired.
Police said after he was stabbed, the man asked, "Did you stab me?" and pulled out a gun, before the 32-year-old grabbed the weapon from him.
The woman, said to be a friend of the shooter, is being sought for questioning for a potential assault charge, law enforcement officials said.
"There were multiple police officers in this station just feet away from when the train pulled in, who heard the shots and moved in right away," Kemper said.
Nobody else was injured, police said.
"This is a very active case," Kemper added. "If anyone has any information, whether you were on the train, in the station, or heard something, please call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS."
The shooting victim is listed in critical but stable condition after being shot four times, including once in the neck, once in the chest, and twice in the right side of his face. He also suffered two stab wounds to the back, police said.
The man has had 10 prior arrests, and NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said Friday that he had gotten on the train without paying and possessed a .380-caliber Ruger and a knife.
Thursday's shooting came a week after New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul said that New York State Police troopers and National Guard members will help police officers protect the subways.
Metropolitan Transit Authority Chairman Janno Lieber spoke out about the violence and made a call for gun control.
"The real victims are the people I saw in those videos," Lieber told reporters. "They are just trying to go about with their lives. Just get rid of the guns."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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