(CNN) — A shooting in a busy subway station in BrooklynNew York, leaves a balance of at least 29 people injured, who were treated at three nearby hospitals for injuries, none of which are life-threatening, according to hospital representatives.
Of those injured, 10 people were shot.
Authorities are at the scene investigating and have released some details of how the attack occurred and information about the suspected attacker.
What we know about the alleged attacker
A credit card used to rent a U-Haul van helped New York investigators quickly identify the suspect who allegedly released a smoke canister and then opened fire on a Brooklyn subway, sending nearly 30 people to city hospitals, two law enforcement sources told CNN on Tuesday.
The suspect, who dropped the credit card as he fled the scene and was still on the loose Tuesday night, was described as a black male about 5 feet 6 inches tall with a thick build wearing a green construction vest. and a gray hoodie.
Authorities said investigators were able to obtain an image of the suspect from a cellphone video shared by a witness.
Shortly after 2 p.m., the NYPD posted an Arizona license plate number and directed all officers and detectives to keep an eye out for the truck, according to two internal emails reviewed by CNN. The truck was found in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn a few hours later, two law enforcement officers told CNN.
The van was rented Monday from a U-Haul store in Philadelphia, according to company records obtained by CNN. The rental agreement obtained by CNN shows that the U-Haul reservation was made on Wednesday and was scheduled for a Monday pickup at 2:01 p.m. The van was supposed to be rented for two days, according to the reservation.
New York police are searching for Frank James, the man who rented a U-Haul truck found near the scene of a shooting in Brooklyn. His connection to the event is unclear. (NYPD)
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A 62-year-old man, Frank James, was listed as the renter of the van and has been identified as a person of interest, Chief James W. Essig, chief of detectives for the New York Police Department, said during a news conference Tuesday. at night. Frank James has addresses in both Wisconsin and Philadelphia, Essig said.
“We don’t know if Mr. James has any connection to the subway, that is still under investigation,” Essig said.
The NYPD bomb squad is responding to the Brooklyn scene where the U-Haul truck was found, a law enforcement source told CNN.
U-Haul said it is working with authorities.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said there may be some social media posts related to James mentioning homelessness, New York and Mayor Eric Adams. The mayor’s security detail was stepped up out of an abundance of caution, Sewell said.
The shooting began just before 8:30 a.m. as a Manhattan-bound N subway train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, a working-class neighborhood far from the tourist centers of the city. town.
Witnesses riding the subway told investigators the gunman opened two smoke grenades, brandished a 9mm pistol and fired at least 33 times, injuring 10 people, seven men and three women, Essig said.
Those 10 people were taken to area hospitals. Another 13 people were injured from smoke inhalation, falls or panic attacks, Essig said.
The suspect shot people on the train and on the station platform, Sewell said. Rescuers arrived at the station to find gunshot victims and others injured in the chaos.
Later at the scene, investigators found a Glock 9mm pistol, three extended magazines, two detonated smoke grenades, two undetonated smoke grenades, an ax and a U-Haul key, Essig said. The key led authorities to find the truck in Brooklyn.
Two officials said they believe the gun jammed during the shooting.
Sewell said there are no known active explosive devices on the trains. The attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, but authorities have not ruled anything out, he said.
The individual is reported to be a black male with a thick build, wearing a green construction-type vest with a gray hooded sweatshirt, Sewell said.
The mass shooting comes amid a spike in shootings in New York in the past two years and a particular rise in subway violence that has become the focus of Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.
Traffic crime, overall, is up 68% compared to last year, numbers that are closer to where they were at pre-pandemic levels. A total of 617 crimes were reported this year, compared to 367 during the same period last year, according to a summary of statistics from the New York Police Department Updated until Sunday.
Witnesses say the train was engulfed in smoke
Yav Montano told CNN that he was on the express train on his way to work when the subway car filled with smoke and he heard what sounded like fireworks. The train was between stations at the time, so panicked passengers tried to move to another car to get further away from the smoke, he said.
“The whole car was engulfed in smoke,” he said. “I couldn’t even wear my mask anymore because it was black from the smoke. It was ridiculous.”
Between 40 and 50 people were on the train at the time, he said. He wasn’t sure how many were injured, but he said he saw a lot of blood on the floor of the train. As the train pulled into the 36th Street station, passengers rushed out of the train onto the platform in a hurry.
Brooklyn resident Will Wylde was on the subway Tuesday morning when he heard a commotion in the train car next to him. People started banging on the door between subway cars, which are often closed, to try to get through, he said.
Police tape blocks the subway stop on Tuesday.
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A video taken by Wylde shows people running from the subway train after it pulls into the station. Smoke billows from the car where the shooting took place and people can be heard screaming, the video shows.
An individual is seen helping an injured and bleeding person dressed in a blue hoodie outside the train. Another man limps off the train shortly after, the video shows.
Police told the public to avoid the 4th Street area. Avenue in Brooklyn, where a large presence of first responders gathered.
The Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn is located in the southwestern part of the borough and has a significant number of residents who are Asian and Hispanic. Each group makes up about a third of its more than 135,000 residents, according to US Census data.
The southern part of the neighborhood has become Brooklyn’s Chinatown due to its growing population of immigrants from China’s Fujian province.
Shootings on the rise in New York
The shooting comes as violence in New York City and across the United States has surged since the Covid-19 pandemic, reversing a decades-long decline.
In New York, more than 360 people have been shot this year in 322 shootings, increases of about 8% and 9% from last year, respectively, according to data reported by the NYPD through Sunday. In the last two years, shootings in New York are up 72.2% and shooting victims are up 70.4%.
Tuesday’s subway attack is the second mass shooting, defined as at least four people shot, in Brooklyn this year and the fourth in New York state. according to the Archive of Armed Violence. The first mass shooting of the year in Brooklyn was on January 13 at a Brooklyn Ballroom.
Mayor Adams emphasized that the entire country is witnessing a high level of violence, not just New York City.
“We’re facing a problem that’s affecting our entire nation right now and that’s why this is a national response,” Adams told CNN’s Dana Bash. “We need a national response to this problem.”
Including Tuesday’s shooting, there have been 131 mass shootings in the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that tracks gun deaths and injuries. Those shootings left 141 dead and 547 wounded.
Mass transit systems across the United States have increased patrols and asked the public to report anything unusual in the wake of the attack.
CNN’s Caroll Alvarado, Nicole Chavez, Jason Hanna, Paul P. Murphy, Peter Nickeas, Yon Pomrenze, Shimon Prokupecz and Elizabeth Wolfe contributed to this report.
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