A WITNESS to the aftermath of the terrifying shooting inside a New York subway station says he was warned away from the mayhem by a bloodied victim staggering towards him.
Konrad Aderer, a Brooklyn-based documentary filmmaker, told The US Sun he missed being swept up in the violence at the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, by a matter of moments on Tuesday morning.
The attack erupted at around 8.30 am when a suspect, reportedly wearing a gas mask and high-visibility vest, set off a smoke grenade and then opened fire at morning commuters on a Manhattan-bound N train.
At least 16 people were hospitalized with varying degrees of injuries, including eight gunshot victims.
The suspect has not yet been identified but remains at large. Police described the gunman as a black male, believed to be around 5ft 5in tall and weighing 170 pounds.
Aderer had been making his way down a flight of steps inside the station when he saw a victim of the shooting hobbling towards him, calling out to MTA staff that there were people hurt on the platform below.
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“I saw this guy come up to the station booth, his pants were down and he was bleeding from both of his legs,” Aderer told The US Sun.
“He was very animatedly telling the agent that there were people injured and bleeding on the platform. I thought I heard him say something about a shooting but I wasn’t totally sure at the time.”
Aderer said he felt incredibly concerned for the bleeding man. He considered hanging around to find out more and seeing if he could help out in any way, but ultimately he decided to “just get out.”
“At that point, I decided I know as much as I needed to and there was no reason for me to be there a second longer,” he said.
“I felt a lot of concern for the man, but thankfully – at least, I hope I’m right in saying – that he wasn’t critically injured or anything, since he was able to make it up the steps.
“Part of me wanted to find out what happened and help but it just didn’t seem wise,” Aderer added. “I have a family and I just would have been risking myself and not really helping [by being there].”
Read our Brooklyn subway shooting live blog for the very latest news and updates…
As Aderer raced out of the subway station, he saw streams of police officers and other emergency personnel piling down the steps in the opposite direction.
He said: “So I knew that man was getting the help he needed and my presence was not required there at all.”
John Ramsey, who has lived in the Sunset Park area for two decades, also witnessed the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
He told The US Sun: “I’ve never seen anything like that … Once I saw people running and screaming out of the train, I knew it wasn’t normal.
“People had masks on so I couldn’t make out what they were saying. But it was this mass flight of people. They were confused. No one knew where to go.”
Arderer believes he may have missed being on the platform when the gunfire erupted by just a matter of minutes or even seconds.
Arderer, who lives in locally with his family, said he was ultimately held up by a series of “unusual” events, including an interaction with a crying woman who asked to borrow his phone after losing hers.
“I was walking down the station’s first flight of steps when a very distraught woman came up to me and asked if she could use my phone,” he recounted.
“She said that she had just lost her phone on the train, so I’m guessing she didn’t know [about the shooting] yet, otherwise she would’ve told me.”
Arderer said he was further held up by a text messaging conversation with his wife, where the pair were debating whether he should take care of something back home before heading out to work.
“So I had this pause, and these delays kept me from being on the platform a lot sooner,” Arderer said. “I don’t know how much I missed it by, or whether I’d have been in any danger, but the timing of it all was very, very close to the incident.”
After learning of the shooting, Arderer texted his wife to inform her “Something has happened down here” and he was now on his way back home.
He’d been riding the same subway line with his children some 20 minutes earlier, having accompanied them on their morning commute to school.
Arderer said that he didn’t hear any gunfire or see anything out of the ordinary while in the station, aside from the bloodied victim standing at the MTA booth.
However, a witness who was on the platform when the shooting began told the New York Post there were so many rounds fired off she “lost count.”
“There was like, lots of them. I don’t even know how many,” she told the Post, adding the gas mask-wearing culprit dropped “some kind of cylinder that sparked at the top.”
“I thought he was an MTA worker at first because I was like, I didn’t like pay too much attention. You know? You’ve got the orange on,” she told the outlet.
FDNY said they responded to a call for smoke at the 36th Street stop shortly before 8.30am and found multiple gunshot victims.
The injured were taken to NYU Langone of Brooklyn and Methodist Hospital, officials said.
A manhunt for the gunman remains ongoing, with investigators reportedly combing through subway tunnels, based on some witness reports, he may have jumped onto the tracks.
Police have not yet speculated on a motive for the shooting, but it’s believed the gunman acted alone. New York City Police Department Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said at a press conference that the incident is not currently being investigated as an act of terrorism.
A report by Rolling Stone suggested a police error may have allowed the suspect to flee and evade immediate capture.
An unnamed source told the outlet the suspect’s escape may have been enabled by a local duty captain who reportedly failed to freeze all trains in and out of the 36th Street Station.
As an investigation continues, earlier this morning the New York City Fire Department confirmed that officials found “several undetonated devices” at the scene of the shooting.
However, the NYPD later confirmed there were “no active explosive devices” at the station over an hour after the incident unfolded.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden has been brief on the situation and officials are in contact with NYC Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Police warned New Yorkers to avoid the area of 3rd Avenue to 5th Avenue from 20th to 40th Street in Brooklyn.
The 36th street subway station serves the D, N, and R trains.
A video posted on the Citizen app showed a heavy law enforcement presence at the scene.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she has been briefed on the situation and will work with law enforcement on the investigation.
“I’m praying for all the victims, their families, all those impacted. I’m grateful for the quick action of our first responders. To everyone in New York: Stay safe,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted.
Read More on The US Sun
Schools in the area of the Brooklyn subway shooting are in a shelter-in-place mode.
Jersey City is upping security with the attacker in Brooklyn shooting still at large.
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