Brooklyn subway shooting: Suspect named as police manhunt enters second day
- 10 people were hit directly by gunfire, with five victims in critical condition
- Police are still searching for shooter Frank James, who was reportedly wearing an orange vest and a surgical mask
Police mounted an intense manhunt on Tuesday for a gunman who set off two smoke bombs and opened fire in a New York subway car, injuring more than 20 people in a morning rush-hour attack that prompted new calls to fight violence in the city’s transit system.
Police said the gunman was believed to have acted alone and immediately fled the crime scene. The attack unfolded as a Manhattan-bound subway train on the N line was pulling into an underground station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighbourhood.
10 people were hit directly by gunfire, including five hospitalised in critical but stable condition, authorities said.
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At least 10 shot, 6 others injured at New York subway station in Brooklyn
Police said 13 more people suffered from smoke inhalation or were otherwise injured in the chaos as panicked riders fled the smoke-filled subway car.
Some collapsed to the pavement as they poured onto the platform of the 36th Street station. The fire department said two of those hurt were treated at the scene.
All of the victims were expected to survive their injuries, police said.
On Wednesday, New York Police Department said a man identified as Frank James is now a suspect in the shooting. Initially the police said he was viewed only as a “person of interest” having been linked by evidence to the crime scene. Authorities did not say why James was now considered a suspect.