<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
Commuters in New York ran for cover after an ‘aggressive’ rider was shot in the head on a subway train during rush hour on Thursday.
The shooting happened on a northbound A train in Brooklyn shortly after 4:45 p.m. when a verbal dispute between two strangers escalated into a fight.
A 32-year-old man boarded the train at the Nostrand Avenue stop and was approached by a 36-year-old man who appeared to be ‘aggressive and provocative’ according to witnesses.
As the train began to move, the 36-year-old flashed a sharp object believed to be a knife or razor blade, Michael Kemper, the transit police chief, said at a news conference.
At one point he pulled a gun from his jacket and walked towards the 32-year-old as the verbal dispute escalated into a physical fight.
New York City commuters ran for cover after an ‘aggressive’ rider was shot in the head on a subway train during rush hour Thursday
The shooting happened on a northbound A train in Brooklyn shortly after 4:45 p.m. when a verbal dispute between two strangers escalated into a fight
Social media users shared a clip of the fight that led to the shooting, as the 36-year-old, wearing a black hoodie, can be seen punching the other guy several times.
The 36-year-old also landed a punch on a woman who appeared to have stabbed him in the back several times as he repeatedly shouted: ‘you stabbed me?’
Blood was visibly seeping through the black hoodie as the two men struggled, with the 36-year-old eventually sitting on top of the 32-year-old.
At one point, the hooded guy took off his jacket, revealed the weapon, and proceeded to load it.
Passengers can be heard desperately shouting, ‘get me out, get me out’ before the car doors were opened.
The video did not capture the moment the 32-year-old grabbed the firearm from the aggressive attacker, but several shots can be heard in the background.
A video from ABC reporter Joyce Philippe captures the chaos after shots rang out as terrified passengers ducked for cover and shouted for help.
‘Where’s the NYPD, oh my God!’ one woman exclaimed, while others said: ‘close the door, close the door!’
The train pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street station, where law enforcement officers who heard the gunshots flooded the scene.
The 32-year-old shooter was arrested before he entered the platform and remained in custody.
The 36-year-old man was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he underwent surgery and remained in critical condition.
Footage posted by social media user Owen Anderson shows first responders rushing the person on a gurney into an ambulance.
“When you bring a gun on a train and you start a fight, it’s not right and it’s completely outrageous,” Kemper said, adding that authorities had not decided whether to charge the shooter.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) chairman Janno Lieber said: ‘The victim here, as the chief said, appears to be the aggressor.’
He added: ‘But the real victims are the people I saw in the videos who are shaken because they are on a train with someone with a gun.’