Six people were shot, one fatally, as a fight between rival teens spiraled out of control in a Bronx subway station on Monday, according to police.
Dozens of people were on the northbound No. 4 platform at the elevated Mount Eden Ave. station on Jerome Ave. near Mount Eden Ave. when a train rolled in around 4:35 p.m., authorities said.
Inside the train, two groups of teenagers were fighting. When the doors opened, at least one of the people involved in the argument took out a gun and fired shots, NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said at a Monday night press conference.
As people ran off the train and onto the platform, more shots were fired, Kemper said.
“The train was coming and there were two kids yelling,” witness Efrain Feliciano, 61, told the Daily News. “There were at least six shots.”
A 28-year-old man was struck in the right arm, a 29-year-old woman was shot in the face and neck, a 15-year-old boy was shot in the thigh and right ear and a 14-year-old girl was shot in the foot, sources said. Also shot were men ages 71 and 34, but it was not immediately clear where they were hit. The 34-year-old died.
Most of the victims were bystanders standing on the platform waiting for a train, police sources said.
“I saw sparkles as the bullets hit the wall,” Feliciano said. “A woman was holding a child screaming.”
Terrified people scattered, with Feliciano recalling “bullets flying everywhere.”
“There’s no name on a bullet,” he said. “It was crazy.”
A woman on the street level below the station watched in horror as shell casings rained down from the elevated train and terrified people ran from the station.
“Everyone was screaming and running,” said Yanesa Ortega, 29. “They were running down the stairs to escape.”
A police source said the scene was a “mess” as cops collected evidence and medics rushed victims to various hospitals.
Officials responded immediately to the scene and downloaded video caught on surveillance cameras in the station, said NYPD Assistant Chief Jerry O’Sullivan.
As first responders raced to the scene, victims were loaded into ambulances.
“They were giving CPR to a young boy,” said Ortega. They were pumping his chest.
“One woman was shot in the face — she was bleeding from here,” she added as she ran her hand across the left side of her face. “It was terrible. I was scared.”
A man buying fruit on the corner spotted the shot woman holding her jaw and about three or four ‘kids” in hooded sweatshirts running from the scene.
“She was bleeding and crying,” said Alberto Paredes, 52. “I sat her down and tried to calm her down. I did what I could.”
Medics transported all six patients to area hospitals, where the 34-year-old man died, police said. The other victims were expected to survive their injuries.
The dead man’s name was not immediately disclosed.
The NYPD warned people to avoid the area as officers investigated. It wasn’t immediately clear how many shooters were involved in the violence.
Officials stressed that the shooting was not random and such violence is “not the norm” in the subway system.
“To have a shooting like this in the subway system is extremely rare and unacceptable,” said Kemper. “This is not indicative to what goes on in the subway system.”
There were no immediate arrests as police continued to hunt for the people responsible the carnage – whom officials called the “NYPD’s most wanted.”
“You have the greatest detectives in the world looking for you,” said NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Tarik Sheppard. “We suggest you turn yourself in because you’re not going to make it.”
The shooting marked the first homicide of the year in the NYPD’s 44th Precinct, which covers nearly 2 square miles of the southwest portion of the Bronx, according to police data released Sunday.
As of this time last year, four people had already been killed in the precinct.
Citywide, 29 people have been victims of homicides so far in 2024, according to NYPD data released Feb. 4.
The figure marks a 25.6% downtick from the same time frame last year, when 39 people were killed in homicides.
So far this year, the NYPD has removed 683 illegal guns from city streets, according to police data.
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