NEW YORK - Police are searching for a gunman after shooting at least 10 people on a Brooklyn subway, sparking panic early Tuesday.
Police Commissioner Kishant Sewell told a news conference that the shooting took place shortly before 8:30 a.m. On the N train to Manhattan in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sunset Park.
Sewell said the train was waiting to leave for the 36th Street station when a man put on a gas mask and opened a canister before the train filled with smoke and the man opened fire. She said the shooter, whom Sewell described as a big black man, was wearing a green and gray jacket.
A total of 16 people were injured, including 10 who were shot, said Laura Kavanagh, the first deputy commissioner of the New York City Fire Department. Five people were in stable but critical condition. Sewell also said that none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Firefighters responded to the smoke call at 36th Street and 4th Street subway stations. The crew found gunshot victims and several "unexploded ordnance," according to a statement from the New York Fire Department.
There were no known explosive devices on the train, Sewell said Tuesday afternoon. The incident was not investigated as an act of terrorism "at this time," but he requested public assistance with photos, videos or information about the incident and the suspected shooter.
"New Yorkers' sense of calm and naturalness has been so brutally disrupted by an individual so cold and corrupt that they didn't care about the people who assaulted them," New York Governor Cathy Hochhol said.
In addition to the shooting victims, Kavanaugh said, other people suffered smoke suffocation, shrapnel injuries and other injuries related to the panic that followed the shooting.
Eight of the injured were taken to New York University Langone Hospital in Brooklyn, and all of them are in stable condition, hospital spokeswoman Lacey Scarman said. New York Presbyterian Hospital in Brooklyn said three patients injured in the attack were receiving treatment, but no information on their condition was immediately available.
New York subway shooting: Multiple injuries at Brooklyn station
Avellana de la Cruz, 25, was texting her boss that she was going to be late for work while waiting for the subway when dozens of people, some bloodied, began fleeing the station. De la Cruz said people were crying and screaming while others stood up, called the police or checked their phones.
Confused, de la Cruz remained at the station until a request to evacuate passengers was announced. De la Cruz said that as he was leaving the station, a bloodied woman called for help finding the police. They got off the subway together and found an ambulance.
“One minute I was on the phone and the next day everyone was running and crying,” said de la Cruz.
"There was chaos and it was difficult to tell if the attack was really over or not," he added.
Tim O'Donnell, 31, who commutes regularly to Manhattan on the N train, said he was wearing headphones when he heard the train conductor ask passengers to board a local R train from the platform. Then the loudspeaker heard the announcement of the evacuation.
On his way out, O'Donnell said he saw a man with a broken leg and what appeared to be a bloody wound to his leg. O'Donnell thought the man might have fallen down the stairs in the pouring rain, but he started getting text messages about the shooting when he got home.
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