Welcome back to news wrap.
There was a panic and fear inside a subway station right
here in new york city today after a gunman opened fire
inside a packed subway car in Brooklyn.
Now earlier today I spoke with a witness who
was on the adjacent train after the gunfire erupted,
take a listen
and then I realized that it's not a fight. People are screaming about gunshots.
The smoke smells wrong,
like it's not a smoke that smells like
you know cigarettes or pot or like even electronics
like this is like a burning smell.
And then I noticed there was uh looked like a young man who had been
shot who was laying on the ground in a puddle of blood with whatever.
I guess that one of his friends sitting next to him
um didn't have a lot of time to think
too much after that because the M. T. A.
Employees started hurting everyone from the end train
and everyone on the platform onto the r.
Train so that they can get us all in the artery and move us to 25th street.
So one woman is telling me she heard pops like
popping sounds and felt like like things fly past her.
There's a lot of people on the phone with 911 Like every third person
was trying to make a 911 call when we got to 25th Street.
What we realized was that we actually Ferried over a bunch of injured people with us
so we start getting out of the train and then there are people slumped down blood.
Um So what we started to do,
we tried to to like clear the train out and get injured people into one car.
Um
there was one guy who was walking, he was an older gentleman who starts screaming
that he thinks he's dying and then I think
that was the moment he realized he had been shot
because he was covered in blood,
like his pants were covered in blood and I think it's just like finally, like,
you know, the shock wore off and it hit him and then he went back into shock.
So we kind of tried to get that guy to the,
to to the car that we were like putting people on
joining me now to discuss updated details
of this ongoing investigation is Ralph Celentano,
professor of police science at john jay
College of Criminal Justice and Science and former
NYPD lieutenant commander of detectives.
Ralph.
Today's shooting is extra scary because it happened during the
peak of rush hour this morning inside a crowded train.
This could have been any of us commuting to work or on public transportation.
So, the major concern in the minds of most viewers is are we okay on the train?
Is it safe?
How concerned should people be about something like this happening
in a closed off space with limited number of exits?
Well, there's always some degree of concern about being in such a small space,
but I think overall, I think that people are safe riding the train.
I mean something like this certainly contributes to
overall uh fear and disorder on the train.
But this is an isolated incident. Such an incident of such vastness.
Like this is really isolated
of course over the next few weeks.
And then beyond that we've heard Mayor eric Adams vowed
to flood the train to flood the train system,
the M.
T. A. System with officers as he should.
So I think people can expect to see a much greater increase
of police presence on the trains.
I know this is shocking to people and it should be,
I just listened to your last eyewitness if his account that would happen
and of course it's scary to have to go through something like this.
But incidents of this business,
this level of violence are really few and far between.
I don't think people should be worried about riding the train just in case.
What are the best ways to get out of the subway station? Are their protocols in place?
Do we leave the scene? Do we wait? What, what do we do there?
Right,
well, this particular incident is really,
really tough because you're inside a train car,
which is like a little pod inside a bigger pot, which is the train station.
So this is not an open area where people can flee to,
they're kind of stuck in the train car.
And then even when they get out of the train car,
they're stuck on the subway platform.
So this is really perfect for a perfect storm
for an assailant uh such like we had today.
So he obviously put some thought into this.
But most of all, if something happens like this, I mean,
first people should do is take cover if they can hide behind one of the chairs,
what you really want to do is get away, right, you run,
but you can't run because you're inside a train car.
So try to take cover behind something that's going to provide
cover like one of the train seats or something like that.
And then ultimately,
if there's nowhere to go and this person approaches you ultimately are going to have
to fight and you're gonna find uh courage that you never knew you had.
So, of course, first run
if you're in a position to run,
which was tough today inside the train car, uh, and then to hide,
uh seek cover of some sort that will provide some bullet resistance.
See, and then, you know, if it comes down to it, you're gonna have to fight.
It's going to be uh, you know,
your life for his and people will find courage that
they didn't know they had quite frankly because of the temerity
and the toughness of new Yorkers,
I'm surprised no one attacked him and tried to subdue him.
It might have been the smoke, we're just not sure.
But you have some excellent advice.
I know you're thinking about all your officers who have a very busy
and long day today, and I'm glad you guys are in the subway when we do see you there.
So I appreciate it.
Ralph Sorrento, professor of police science, john jay,
College of Criminal Justice and Science
and former NYPD lieutenant commander of detectives.
Thank you again for sharing your expertise.