Police launch manhunt for mystery shooter at New York subway
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New York: Police still remain clueless about the assailant who went berserk spraying bullets on rush-hour passengers in a subway on Tuesday morning.
Police Commissioner Keetchan Sewell said on Tuesday that terrorism was not considered as the motive for the moment. The officer however wouldn't rule out it.
The mass shooting left 10 people with gunshot wounds, at least 13 others with other injuries, IANS reported.
A manhunt for the mystery assailant currently is underway. The sleuths from city and federal government remain puzzled about the motive behind the meticulous attack.
US authorities usually wouldn't link mass-shooting or attacks to terrorism unless there is a definite political, religious or race agenda behind it, according to the report.
No deaths were so far reported from the spraying of 33 shots. However, five of those wounded are reportedly in critical condition.
Police found on the train a 9mm Glock gun mounted with an extended magazine.
13 others injured included those with shrapnel wounds, some of them were overwhelmed by smoke during the mayhem, according to the report.
Videos and photos showed fellow passengers comforting the victims lying splattered with blood on train platform.
Police Commissioner Keetchan Sewell said the shooter was African American wearing a green vest and a gas mask. As the train was pulling into the station, the officer said, the man set off smoke canister before opening fire in the chaos and disappeared into the station.
The surveillance cameras in the station were not working, said Mayor Eric Adams.
Police scrambled to get videos from nearby businesses.
A van key found at the site made police to look for certain Frank R. James from Philadelphia as a "person of interest".
Frank R. James was reported to have ranted on social media against the city's Democratic Party mayor, an African American himself, who is taking strong steps to curb the rising tide of crimes, and about the problems of homeless people, whom the mayor has ordered removed from the trains and stations, according to report.
New York subway, which mostly run underground on elevated tracks, reportedly has little security, despite being a terrorist target.
Unlike in Delhi, there are no metal detectors to check passengers and belongings at the entrances. Anyone can get into subway paying the fare at turnstiles. Poor security at stations often lead to terror attacks; in 2017 a Bangladeshi man set off pipe bomb inside Times Square subway station injuring himself and three others.
Police foiled a 2009 bomb plot on subway by an al-Qaeda trained Afghan-American, after being tipped off by intelligence agencies.
In March alone, 108 crimes were reported from the transit system, including buses, according to the report.