NEW YORK: At least 13 people have been injured in a shooting incident at asubway station in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, where “severalundetonated devices” were recovered, authorities said Tuesday.
A New York police spokeswoman told AFP officers responded to a 911 call ofa person shot in the Brooklyn subway at 8:27 am (1227 GMT).
The city’s fire department gave a toll of “13 injuries at this time,” whileABC News quoted police sources as saying at least five people were shot inthe incident at the 36th Street subway station.
The police department tweeted that there were “NO active explosive devicesat this time.”
“Please stay clear of the area” the NYPD tweeted, urging witnesses tocontact a police tip line with any information.
New York governor Kathy Hochul said she had been briefed on the”developing” situation.
“First responders are on the scene and we will work with @MTA & @NYPDnewsto provide updates as the investigation continues,” she tweeted.
ABC News reported that police were investigating whether a smoke device wasdetonated, and that police are hunting for the suspect.
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According to NBC, citing NYPD officials and senior law enforcementofficials, a man in a gas mask and orange construction vest may have tosseda smoke canister on the platform to distract the rush hour crowd.
Mass casualty shootings happen with relative frequency in the UnitedStates, where firearms are involved in approximately 40,000 deaths a year,including suicides, according to the Gun Violence Archive website.
The incident came just a day after US President Joe Biden announced new guncontrol measures, increasing restrictions on so-called “ghost guns”, thedifficult-to-trace weapons that can be assembled at home.
Lax gun laws and a constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms haverepeatedly stymied attempts to clamp down on the number of weapons incirculation, despite greater controls being favoured by the majority ofAmericans.
Three-quarters of all homicides in the US are committed with guns, and thenumber of pistols, revolvers and other firearms sold continues to rise.-APP/AFP
