Police are looking for a man in a gas mask and a construction vest seen fleeing the 36th Street station Tuesday morning.
BROOKLYN — Police are hunting a man who shot 10 people in a subway train packed with rush hour commuters in Brooklyn before fleeing in a gas mask and construction vest, according to the NYPD and mayor's officials.
The masked man cracked open a gas-filled canister onboard an N train pulling into the 36th Street station at Fourth Avenue in Sunset Park about 8:30 a.m., said NYPD officials.
Video shows screaming commuters fleeing a smoke-filled train where the FDNY confirmed 17 were hurt and five critically injured.
"We do not know the motive at the time," NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. "I'm not ruling out anything."
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Gov. Kathy Hochul said the city remained in an "active-shooter situation" as police tracked down the man behind the mass shooting.
"Report what you see," said Hochul. "It is likely that someone listening to this is going to help lead us to that individual."
Update: Reports show a U-Haul linked to the suspect was found parked in Gravesend Tuesday afternoon.
Commuters aboard the N train recounted tales of chaos when the train doors opened onto the subway platform.
"My subway door opened into calamity," eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS. "It was smoke and blood and people screaming."
A woman who gave her name as Claire told the New York Post of multiple shots being fired in the subway car.
"There was, like, lots of them," she told the Post. "I don't even know how many."
Claire saw the man drop "some kind of cylinder that sparked at the top" before opening fire, the Post reported.
"I thought he was an MTA worker at first because I was like, I didn't like pay too much attention, you know, 'You've got the orange on.'"
The subway rider's description doesn't track with that of Sewell, who said the vest was green.
Read More: Photos Show Aftermath Of Tuesday Attack
Passenger Yav Montano told CNN his subway car suddenly began filling with smoke.
"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," Montano reportedly said.
"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."
Medics rushed 15 people to nearby hospitals and treated two on the scene, according to the FDNY.
Mayor Eric Adams called the device a smoke bomb he said was detonated to wreak havoc.
"We will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized even by a single individual," Adams said. "The NYPD is searching for the suspect at large, and we will find him."
The incident and its aftermath evoked memories of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks for MTA chief Janno Lieber, he said at a press conference.
"On 9/11, I watched New Yorkers help each other," Lieber said. "That was the same thing we saw today."
One resident saw two people fleeing the station covered in blood.
"They looked like zombies and were just in shock," the man told Patch. "It's really scary because if it was tomorrow, it could have been me commuting."
"But if it were an hour later," he added, "it could have been kids on their way to school."
The chaos rippled into the Sunset Park neighborhood near the station.
The roar of helicopters circling above echoed over the 36th Street station, as dozens of NYPD officers combed and closed off the streets. Many cops could be seen atop rooftops.
Schools within a mile of the school were ordered to shelter-in-place, banning students from leaving the building and amping up screening for any adult coming in, the DOE announced.
Fourth Avenue was closed to traffic as far 24th Street as emergency responders investigated.
Police guard a Brooklyn street closed after a man in a gas mask opened fire in a Brooklyn subway Tuesday morning. Photo by Kayla Levy | Patch
President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting and Adams was also being kept informed, his spokesperson said.
The investigation also prompted D, N and R train suspensions across Brooklyn, the MTA announced, adding that the trains also aren't running at some stations in Manhattan.
Read more about the impact on New York City subways here.
Another local said the sound of fire trucks — and news about the nearby shooting — challenged his feelings about the neighborhood.
"It's an eerie and surreal feeling," he said. "I use this station every day to commute. It's one thing to hear stories from Times Square, but it's chilling when it happens on your corner."
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