subway Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY NETWORK
(New York, NY) — Criminal charges won’t be filed against the shooter in Thursday’s violent incident on a Brooklyn subway train. The Brooklyn DA’s office says this is due to evidence of self-defense. Police say a 32-year-old man was on a Manhattan-bound A train when a 36-year-old started a fight with him and pulled out a gun. The younger man then disarmed him and shot him in the head as the train pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn [[ Skermer-horn ]] station. Police say the older man, who is in critical condition, was a fare-evader and are calling on a crackdown on fare evasion in order to curb subway crime.
Many subway riders are on edge after the shooting in the Brooklyn subway. MTA Chairman Janno Lieber says subway crime is just two-percent of crime in the city, but because everyone uses the subway, it has a disproportionate impact on riders’ sense of safety. Meantime, the NYPD says so far they’ve recovered 17 guns in the subway system, just eleven weeks into the year. This comes as National Guard has been assigned to oversee subway safety measures, including bag checks.
