NEW YORK (PIX11) – Mayor Eric Adams on Friday spoke about New York City’s mental health crisis when reacting to Thursday’s subway shooting in Brooklyn.
A man shot a subway rider in the head during an argument on a Brooklyn train, according to the NYPD. The 32-year-old man allegedly shot the 36-year-old man after the victim picked a fight with him on a northbound A train as it pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn Streets subway station around 4:45 p.m., according to the NYPD and law enforcement sources.
“At the heart of this, if you do an analysis, we are dealing with far too many people in our system that are dealing with severe mental health illnesses,” Adams said during an interview on the PIX11 Morning News. “Look at these isolated acts of violence, and too often you're seeing that individuals had some severe mental health illnesses attached to it.”
The victim may have suffered from mental illness because he referred to himself as a cop, 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.”
Authorities said the victim started the argument and pulled a gun on the 32-year-old man, who disarmed him and shot him in the head. Before the shooting, a woman stabbed the victim in the lower back while he was repeatedly punching the 32-year-old man, according to police and a video from the scene. Police said the woman, who has not been arrested, was with the 32-year-old man.
“You stabbed me,” the victim said to 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.
“Let me out,” a passenger said during the gunfire.
“Get down, get down,” a rider said.
The victim, an ex-con, was in critical but stable condition at the hospital, police said Friday afternoon.
The shooter won't be charged, prosecutors said Friday.
“Yesterday’s shooting inside a crowded subway car was shocking and deeply upsetting. The investigation into this tragic incident is ongoing but, at this stage, evidence of self-defense precludes us from filing any criminal charges against the shooter,” according to a spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office.
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