New Yorkers returned to ride the subway not long after a gunman police have identified as Frank James opened fire on a Manhattan-bound N train in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people injuring 13 others Tuesday.
With a chill down their spine, commuters boarded trains to get to where they needed to go, ever mindful that, until Wednesday at 1:42 p.m., the person allegedly responsible for the mass shooting remained on the loose.
Officers with the NYPD counter-terrorism unit patrolled platforms and checked train cars. New York City Mayor Eric Adams doubled the police presence in the subway system in the wake of the shooting.
Many riders remained uneasy, including one passenger who said a prayer as she boarded a train.
“I wasn’t looking forward to being on the subway knowing the person involved in the shooting isn’t caught yet,” she told before James’s arrest.
“I generally hate the subway. It’s a terrible experience.”
Compounding the fear is the revelation that the surveillance system at the 36th Street and Fourth Avenue train station in Sunset Park, and many others, are not working.
News that the doors between the train cars were locked as James allegedly opened fire also left many commuters fearful of finding themselves in a similar situation with no way out.
Tuesday’s shooting occurred amid concern over the safety of riding the subway.
Subway crimes big and small have seen a spike. There were 461 felonies and eight murders committed in the subway system last year, the most since recordings began.
In January, 40-year-old Michelle Go was shoved under a train and killed at Times Square. The suspect in that case was homeless and appeared to suffer from mental illness. When asked if he pushed Go onto the tracks, the man arrested in that case allegedly said, “Yeah, because I’m God. Yes I did.”
What has long been considered the life blood of New York City, the subway system has seen a dramatic loss of passengers. The New York Times reported the once-reliable stream of white-collar commuters has thinned to a trickle. Many of those who still ride the subway have reportedly no other choice.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell, as well as New York Governor Kathy Hochul, rode trains in the wake of Tuesday’s shooting to reassure straphangers that it was safe to do so.
“Thank you to our MTA [Metropolitan Transit Authority] workers who always keep New Yorkers moving,” Hochul wrote in the caption alongside a photo she shared on social media.