What We Know About the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Brooklyn Subway Shooting
On Thursday, the evening rush hour commute quickly turned to panic when a scuffle on a subway train resulted in one man being shot in the head at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn. Videos shared on social media captured much of the fight, as well as frantic scenes in which straphangers tried to flee or shelter in place as police responded. The shooting happened despite recent efforts by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul to deter violent crime in the subway system, including increased bag checks and the deployment of National Guard members in stations. Here’s what we know so far.
What happened?
According to authorities, at around 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, a 32-year-old man boarded a northbound A train, likely at the Nostrand Avenue station. As the train started moving, he was confronted and soon accosted by a 36-year-old man who was already on the train. NYPD chief of transit Michael Kemper said Thursday that multiple witnesses described the older man as being “aggressive and provocative” towards the younger man. It’s not yet clear why.
“Words were exchanged between the two and during the words, it became physical,” Kemper said.
Authorities say that at one point, the 36-year-old displayed a sharp object, either a knife or a razor blade. As the altercation continued, the man then pulled out a gun. The younger man was then able to get the gun away from the older man and then fired multiple shots, stiking the older man as the train was pulling into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station.
Police officers already inside the station quickly responded, and the 32-year-old was detained by police officers who were already at the station and the 36-year-old was transported to a local hospital in critical condition.
Thank you to the New Yorkers who saw something and said something. New York, if you have any information regarding the incident that occurred earlier today at the Hoyt & Schermerhorn train station, please call our tip line 1800-577-TIPS. Remember, all calls are kept confidential. pic.twitter.com/ZJc1B37hYH
— NYPD Deputy Commissioner, Operations Kaz Daughtry (@NYPDDaughtry) March 14, 2024
During a series of media appearances Friday morning, Mayor Eric Adams suggested the shooting was linked to mental illness, and was evidence that both the state and the city need to do more to address the mental health crisis in the subway system. “You’ve got to give us more power, Albany, to deal with involuntary removals for those who are dealing with severe mental health illness,” he said during an interview on 77 WABC.
What does the mobile phone video footage show?
Cell phone footage from inside the car appears to shed more light on how the altercation began and provide more details beyond what the NYPD initially reported. In one video, a man can be heard screaming at another man sitting on the train. “I’ll beat you up! You think you’re gonna beat up cops? I’ll beat you up!,” he said.
Though it’s not explicitly clear what the man meant, one passenger on the train seemed to think he was referencing the brawl between NYPD officers and several migrants outside of a Times Square migrant shelter in early February. “He think you’re a migrant. He think you an immigrant,” a woman says, off-camera.
The man’s rhetoric continued to escalate. “F— you. F— your kind. F—your race,” he said.
As the heckling continued, the second man got up and two assumed fighting stances as other passengers quickly moved to the other side of the train car. “There’s babies on here!,” one woman can be heard yelling as the men began to fight.
The two men grapple, falling against empty seats in the car. At one point, a woman who seemed to be traveling with the man who was being harassed appears to stab the older man in the back with an unknown item. He can be heard yelling, “You stabbed me?” A red stain can be seen growing on his white undershirt as the video continues.
Content warning - full video of the incident on the A train.
— Talia Jane ❤️???? (@taliaotg) March 15, 2024
A man accosting two people sitting on the train threatening to beat them up, says “You think you people gunna beat up cops?”
A woman says to the person he’s accosting “He thinks you’re a migrant.” pic.twitter.com/kuvYLM1zo9
At one point, a man in a reflective vest attempted to separate the group. But the situation continued to escalate as the injured man then pulled out a gun. As the person recording turns away from the scene to flee, several gunshots can be heard and the passengers begin scrambling away from the fight and out of the car to safety as it pulls into the station.
In another video recorded by Joyce Philippe, an ABC News reporter, passengers on another car in the station were seen crouched down on the floor as officers can be seen running past the open train doors.
Unfortunately, I was there when it happened. @ABC7NY https://t.co/XkA9R7Uu0k pic.twitter.com/1JBatME00a
— Joyce Philippe (@JoyceMeetsWorld) March 14, 2024
“NYPD was telling everyone to get down and stay down while the train doors stayed open,” Philippe said in an interview with the Daily News. “It was an extremely terrifying moment and people were afraid for their lives.”
This post has been updated.