A deranged gunman shot and killed a 48-year-old straphanger aboard a Manhattan subway train Sunday morning in what cops are calling an unprovoked attack.
The shooter, who was still on the loose Sunday afternoon, paced back and forth in the last car of the northbound Q train around 11:42 a.m. before he opened fire on the random victim seated inside.
“Completely random,” one police source said.
The victim, whose name wasn’t immediately released, was rushed to Bellevue Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police said.
“According to witnesses, the suspect was walking back and forth in the same train car and, without provocation, pulled out a gun and fired at the victim at close range as the trains were crossing the Manhattan Bridge,” NYPD Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said at a press briefing.
When the train pulled into the Canal Street station, the gunman, described as a dark-skinned heavyset man with a beard, fled the station by running up to Centre Street, Corey said.
The shooter and the victim didn’t know each other, according to Corey. No one else on the train was injured.
The victim, a New York City resident, was shot on the moving train as it neared the Canal Street station cops said.
Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
Disturbing video footage shows first responders frantically trying to revive the mortally wounded man as he lay on the floor of the subway car and as they carried him from the station on a stretcher.
The shooting took place as the train crossed the Manhattan Bridge.
It’s unclear how many other people were in the train car at the time, but police sources said detectives were speaking to at least five witnesses.
The suspect was wearing a gray hoodie that said “Aeropostale” on it, sources said.
“Investigators are in possession of and currently reviewing the MTA security video obtained from the station,” to try to ID and find the shooter, Corey said.
“We pushed a lot of additional officers down into the subway system,” Corey said. We continue to do that to patrol this very extensive train system that we have and we’re going to continue doing that.”
New York City Transit President Richard Davey offered his condolences to the family and said the agency is working with detectives to solve the crime.
The shooting is just the latest outbreak of transit violence in the Big Apple, which has seen a spike in subway attacks in recent months.
“It’s unfortunately not that surprising a situation,” a visitor from San Francisco said at the station Sunday.
“It’s definitely concerning,” said the tourist, who asked to be identified only as Eric. “But it’s also one of those things where, like, I’m from a big city and it’s just a big city thing.”
However, one local straphanger was more cavalier about the whole thing.
“S–t like this happens all the time,” Brooklyn resident Bill Taylor said at the Canal Street station after Sunday’s fatal shooting.
“Things happen but you can’t let it scare you,” said Taylor, 27. “You could walk outside and get hit by a car. It’s just one of those things.”