NEW YORK –
A 15-year-old boy was shot dead on a New York City subway train on Friday after an argument between two groups escalated into violence.
It was the eighth murder in the New York City subway this year, at a time when a gradual increase in passengers after a steep drop during the COVID-19 pandemic was hampered by motorcycle safety concerns.
According to police, who did not identify the victim, the teenager was part of one of the groups that had a fight on an A train in Queens just before 4pm.
As the train approached the last stop on the line at Far Rockaway, near JFK Airport, someone fired a shot, hitting the boy in the chest. A passenger helped him off the train when he arrived at the station. Police and emergency personnel took him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The police were reviewing footage from the station’s security cameras and the surrounding area. They did not say if they had identified suspects or a more specific reason for the shooting.
Despite the deployment of more than 1,000 additional police officers into the system since the start of the pandemic, a survey released last month by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority found that 70% of motorcyclists believed there were too few police officers in the system. Just over 50% say they feel safe or very safe on trains or in stations.
“Obviously we have work to do,” New York City Transit President Richard Davey said Friday. “We have to stop this.”
New York Police Chief Jason Wilcox said the arrests were made in the previous seven murders this year.
Last month, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the MTA would install cameras on all of its approximately 6,400 subway cars to restore passengers’ confidence in the safety of the system. The project is expected to last three years.
The New York subway system already has more than 10,000 existing security cameras at its 472 stations.
