BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) --- The man who was shot in the head with his own gun during a fight on a Brooklyn subway Thursday may have been suffering from mental illness, authorities said.
The man, dressed in a black jacket and red and white hat in a video released by the NYPD, may have referred to himself as a police officer during the fight with the shooter before shots rang out as a northbound A train pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets subway station around 4:45 p.m., according to the NYPD.
"It seems like the man was making inferences like he was a police officer as he was speaking to the person he was having a dispute with," NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said Friday.
"It's very alarming. We know we have people in the subway that suffer from mental illness," Maddrey said.
The NYPD video showed the victim walking through the gate without paying the fare at the subway station but it does not show the gun he was allegedly carrying. Maddrey said they have confiscated 17 weapons in the transit system so far this year.
'It's from doing these operations like this, addressing quality of life infractions and people not paying the fares," Maddrey said.
Authorities said the victim started the argument and pulled a gun on the 32-year-old man, who disarmed him and shot the 36-year-old man in the head. Before the shooting, a woman stabbed the victim in the lower back as he was repeatedly punching the shooter, according to police and video from the scene.
"You stabbed me," the 36-year-old man tells the woman in the footage.
"I didn't do nothing," the woman replied.
The arguing escalated before several shots were fired as screaming subway riders scrambled to safety, the video shows.
Authorities said the 36-year-old man was the aggressor and pulled either a knife or razor blade before threatening the 32-year-old man with a gun. But the 32-year-old man grabbed the weapon and fired.
Officers heard four shots and rushed into the subway station and quickly apprehended the shooter at the scene, police said.
“I’m here today to thank police officers who intervened and responded yesterday,” MTA Chief Janno Lieber said Friday morning. “The cops went the extra step. As people were rushing up the stairs and rushing down the stairs, they made an immediate apprehension.”
The victim was still in critical condition but stable condition at the hospital, as of Friday afternoon, police said. The 32-year-old shooter is in police custody but it was unclear if he would be charged.
The men have not been identified.
There may have been more than two dozen people on the train when the shooting occurred, police said. No other injuries were reported.
Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the New York City area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.
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