Four individuals were injured at a Brooklyn subway station on a Sunday when police officers shot a man who was threatening them with a knife, unintentionally hitting passengers nearby, according to authorities. The victims of the gunfire included two innocent bystanders, one officer, and the knife-wielding man, whom the police had initially approached because he had not paid his fare.
Among those injured was a 49-year-old man who was critically wounded after a bullet passed into an adjoining subway car and struck his head. A video captured by a passenger showed panicked commuters fleeing, police officers rushing to assist the injured, and one of the wounded officers realizing he had also been hit by a bullet.
Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlan, who had just been appointed to his position two days prior, pledged a comprehensive investigation into the incident. Donlan placed responsibility on the man brandishing the knife, emphasizing that the events unfolded as a result of the armed suspect’s actions.
The shooting occurred a little after 3 p.m. when two officers followed a man up to an elevated platform after witnessing him enter the station without paying, Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey stated. Despite being instructed to stop, the man refused and made threats towards the officers before they noticed he was armed with a knife.
Despite the officers firing two Tasers that failed to subdue the man, he continued to advance towards them with the knife, prompting both officers to open fire and strike the 37-year-old suspect multiple times. The suspect was in stable condition after being taken to the hospital.
Apart from the man with the head wound, a 26-year-old woman sustained a graze wound from the incident. The injured police officer, who had a bullet lodged in his back after it had entered his torso, was expected to recover fully. Mayor Eric Adams visited the wounded officer at the hospital and referred to the fare-evading individual as a “career criminal” with a history of over 20 arrests, noting that the man also had a background of mental illness.
While video footage of the shooting was not immediately made public on Sunday, the NYPD did release a cropped image showing the man holding the knife, which was described as being about the width of a palm. Concern was expressed by Metropolitan Transportation Authority Janno Lieber regarding innocent bystanders becoming victims in such situations, as the Brownsville neighborhood’s L line subway station is equipped with cameras inside the train, on the platform, and at the entrance.
The incident stirred memories of previous cases where NYPD officers had unintentionally shot and killed fellow officers during confrontations with crime suspects while on duty in 2019.
