The man suspected of shooting and injuring at least 23 people in a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon US time. It is about, so reports the New York Timesto a 62-year-old Americanwho is not from New York.
The attack happened on Tuesday morning around 8:30 a.m. in the middle of rush hour traffic at a busy subway station where three lines intersect. The suspect, who was wearing a gas mask, first opened two containers from which smoke escaped. In the ensuing unrest and panic, he then fired a gun at least 33 times.
Ten people were directly hit and injured by the shots. The others were injured as a result of the smoke or in the panicked crowd. The suspected shooter then fled. A massive contingent of police officers were searching for him across New York. He was eventually arrested in Manhattan.
According to the Bloomberg news agency, the police found at the scene of the crime, among other things, a key to a van that the suspect had previously rented in Philadelphia. The abandoned vehicle was later secured in Brooklyn.
The motive is still unclear. Police have linked the suspect to a series of social media posts that may point to a hate crime.