A police officer works near the scene of the shooting at a Brooklyn subway station. BRENDAN MCDERMID (REUTERS)
Several people have been injured this Tuesday by gunshot wounds in a New York subway station, reported the city police, which is investigating the incident.
The event, in which an explosion has also been reported on the platforms, occurred at the height of rush hour, around 8:30 in the morning, local time (six more hours on the Peninsula) at the 36th street station, serving three lines.
According to the first information, five people would have been wounded by bullets, although local media put the balance of wounded at 13.
"At 8:27, the police received an emergency call from a person who was shot on the subway" in Brooklyn, a police source confirmed to Agence France Presse.
Authorities have asked citizens to avoid traveling through the area.
The police are looking for a man wearing a gas mask and an orange vest used in the construction sector.
The three subway lines that serve the station are currently experiencing considerable delays, while the police investigation continues.
The New York Urban Transportation Authority (MTA), which manages the operation of the subway, has not provided further details of the event.
Also the mayor's spokesman, Eric Adams - who tested positive for covid-19 on Sunday and works in isolation at his home - declined to comment on it.
The episode adds even more pressure to the authorities to stem the wave of violence and the population's fears of growing insecurity on the streets, which hampers the city's recovery momentum after the pandemic.
Precisely this Monday, President Joe Biden announced new regulations to curb the proliferation of ghost weapons, or homemade ones, that are wreaking havoc on the streets of New York.
Last Friday, a 16-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet, coming precisely from one of those ghost guns, when she was coming home from high school.
The alleged perpetrator, aged 17, was arrested.
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