A person is aided outside a subway car in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo / AP
A person is aided outside a subway car in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo / AP
Police in New York have said they have not yet ruled out terrorism as a possible motive behind a "depraved" mass shooting on the city's underground system.
At least 29 people were injured, 10 with gunshot wounds, following the shock attack on a Subway train travelling to Manhattan during the height of Tuesday morning's commute.
The seemingly well-planned incident saw the gunman put on a gas mask and let off a smoke canister in a crowded train carriage before shooting passengers. He remains at large.
The weapon used by the gunman jammed in the midst of his attack, law enforcement sources told the New York Post.
A person is aided outside a subway car in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo / AP
"It was lucky that it jammed because we could be talking about a lot more people in hospitals or worse," one source said.
A bag of concerning items was also recovered at the scene on Tuesday, with a photo obtained by the outlet showing smoke bombs, "seismic wave" cracker fireworks and a 25-shot firework bundle all thrown together inside the bag.
None of the items appeared to be fused together or set to detonate.
Graphic photos from the scene show people lying on the platforms at 36th Street station in Brooklyn with pools of blood around them and smoke filling the station.
One video shows commuters, some screaming, streaming from the carriage where the shooting took place. A number of the passengers appear to have injuries and collapsed on to the platform.
New York City Police Department personnel gather at the entrance to a subway stop in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo / AP
US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation.
'Depraved' attacker
New York State governor Kathy Hochul said there was an "active shooter situation" in the city as the culprit was yet to be caught.
"This morning, ordinary New Yorkers woke up in the anticipation of a relatively normal day.
"That sense of normalcy was brutally disrupted by an individual so depraved of heart that they had no care about the individuals assaulted," Governor Hochul said at a press conference by the Subway stop on Tuesday afternoon.
Hochul said there was an "active shooter situation" in the city as the culprit was yet to be caught.
@POTUS has been briefed on the latest developments regarding the New York City subway shooting. White House senior staff are in touch with Mayor Adams and Police Commissioner Sewell to offer any assistance as needed.
New York City police commissioner Keechant Sewell said the incident unfolded at 8.24am NY time as an N line train waited to enter 36th Street station in the suburb of Sunset Park.
"An individual on that train donned what would appear to be a gas mask. He then took a canister out of his bag and opened it. The train at that time began to fill with smoke. He then opened fire, striking multiple people on the Subway train and on the platform."
The suspect is described as being around 1.7 metres tall, black and wearing a green construction type vest and hooded sweatshirt. His clothing led some to believe he deliberately dressed either as a construction worker or a Subway staff member.
There had earlier been reports of explosives on the train but police have said there were no known such devices on the system.
At a press conference, Commissioner Sewell initially said the incident was not being investigated as terrorism. But when pressed by reporters about how confident police could be that the attack wasn't terrorist-related, given the perpetrator was at large, she added that the force was not "ruling anything out".
New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was not at the scene as he is isolating after contracting Covid-19, said the suspect detonated smoke bombs to create havoc.
"We will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorised even by a single individual," he said.
The New York Fire Department said of the 16 people injured 10 had gunshot wounds with the remainder suffering from smoke inhalation, shrapnel wounds or panic.
None of the injuries were said to be life-threatening but authorities cautioned that at that time the incident had only just occurred.
Law enforcement gather near the entrance to a subway stop in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Photo / AP
The N Subway line operates from the famous Coney Island amusement park in Brooklyn through the borough's downtown area and then onto Queens via Manhattan's Times Square.
A passenger waiting on a train at the platform told the New York Post that she saw a man "drop some kind of cylinder that sparked at the top".
The woman, called Clair, said she "lost count" of the number of rounds she heard ringing out as the man opened fire.
Yav Montano was on a train pulling into the station when pandemonium broke out.
He told CNN he heard "what I thought was fireworks, but now hearing it was gunshots I'm thankful I hid behind one of the chairs".
He described the horrific scenes after disembarking the train.
"There was blood on the floor. There was a lot of blood trailing on the floor. And at the time in the moment, I did not think it was a shooting because it sounded like fireworks," he said.
"All I saw was people trampling each other, trampling over each other, trying to get into the door which was locked and just a lot of panic, but thankfully, the train moved quickly to the next stop and everyone filed off the train in a rush."
The NYPD told people to avoid the area between 36th Street and 4th Ave in Brooklyn.
There are growing concerns about rising crime rates in New York which Mayor Adams has pledged to tackle.
Since the beginning of 2022, there have been 375 crimes on public transport, a rise of 73 per cent compared with 2021 and a 41 per cent rise in major crimes, reported CNN.
