It's like Kyiv around here...
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2022 8:11 am
A gunman wearing a gas mask filled a crowded New York subway car with thick black smoke from a canister and opened fire on morning rush-hour passengers, injuring more than 20, including 10 with gunshot wounds.
A manhunt was under way on Tuesday after the shooter fled the scene. A 9mm semi-automatic handgun and extended magazines, a hatchet, a black garbage can, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades and a key to a U-Haul van were also found at the scene, authorities said. Officers located the vehicle, which will be examined by a bomb squad.
Injured passengers suffered from bullet wounds, smoke inhalation and the physical effects of panic. Nobody was reported to be in life-threatening condition.
Joe Biden said on Tuesday afternoon: “We’re not letting up until we find the perpetrator.” He thanked professional first responders and civilians who rushed to help their fellow travelers amid the panic.
The US president spoke at an event in Iowa, as the New York mayor, Eric Adams, indicated the authorities were getting ready to share the identity of the gunman, who was still at large.
Authorities later identified Frank James, 62, as a person of interest in connection to the shooting. James rented the U-Haul van in Philadelphia and has addresses there and in Wisconsin. As of late Tuesday night, officials had no one in police custody. A $50,000 reward has been offered for any information in the incident.
On Tuesday morning, graphic photographs and clips posted on social media showed the traumatic scenes on the platform of 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighbourhood of Brooklyn around 8.30am. Wounded passengers were seen lying as others administered tourniquets to staunch bleeding from their legs.
Another phone image showed blood smeared inside the train carriage and out on to the platform, indicating where a rider had been dragged to safety. Footage captured passengers screaming as they scrambled to escape the shooter.
Biden added that he and the first lady, Jill Biden, were “praying for all those touched by this trauma”.