While shootings in Manhattan used to be a relative rarity in the past couple of years, they have become increasingly more common (despite the city's well known attitude toward carrying guns). Case in point, earlier this morning when shortly before 6:15 am, a 43-year-old man was shot and killed and two others were wounded in a shooting inside a subway station at Eighth Avenue and 35th Street in Manhattan, by Pennsylvania Station.
According to the NYT [6], the man, who was declared dead at the scene, was not immediately identified by the police. The two other victims, a 45-year-old man with wounds to his neck and abdomen, and a 48-year-old shot in the leg, were taken to Bellevue Hospital in serious condition, the police said.
The newspaper adds that according to preliminary information gathered by the police pointed to an altercation that began on the sidewalk near the 35th Street and Eighth Avenue entrance to the subway and spilled down into the station, according to a police official who requested anonymity to discuss the early stages of the investigation.
There is some confusion about the precise location of the shoot out: according to one official, the shooting took place inside the station, possibly on the platform. A second official said the men were shot on the subway’s stairs. It was not immediately clear if the three men knew each other though detectives believe they did. The reason for the shooting remained under investigation. The gunman may have fled in a car, the official said.
Another official said the shooting did not take place inside Pennsylvania Station. The shooting took place about two blocks from the spot along Eighth Avenue where officers shot a man on the street this year in connection with a string of hammer attacks two blocks north of this shooting.
The manhunt was underway [7]for the gunman or gunmen, WABC-TV reported. The wounded were rushed to Bellevue hospital in serious condition, the station said.
On Monday morning, the east side of 35th Street was blocked with police tape as can be seen on the photos below. A swarm of police officers and squad cars stretched halfway down the block toward 34th Street.
FOX NEWS ALERT: 1 dead, 2 hurt in shooting near Penn Station
https://t.co/xdFleRpdV1 [8]
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) November 9, 2015 [9]
DETAILS: 3 people shot, 1 dead, in midtown #Manhattan [10] https://t.co/oFJ2qCgwkk [11] #PennStation [12] #abc15 [13] pic.twitter.com/I0l9Xzznqa [14]
— ABC15 Arizona (@abc15) November 9, 2015 [15]
**SHOOTING AT PENN STATION** 1 man dead, 2 others injured, no arrests: NYPD https://t.co/tj3NzeDRfz [16] pic.twitter.com/0NCMUhQQdO [17]
— Aidan Gardiner (@AidanGardiner) November 9, 2015 [18]
Here's what I'm seeing on 35th St and 8th Ave now at scene of shooting near Penn Station pic.twitter.com/8xwkrRVjPS [19]
— Stetson Miller (@stetsonmreports) November 9, 2015 [20]
“@PIX11News [21]: UPDATE: 1 dead, two wounded in shooting near Penn Station, according to NYPD. https://t.co/eR2WEAdOyH [22] pic.twitter.com/SH94H3zgpU [23]”
— Yaacov Behrman (@ChabadLubavitch) November 9, 2015 [24]
