Man shot on N train arriving at Canal Street station, NYPD searching for suspect
NEW YORK -- Police are searching for a suspect Saturday after a man was shot on a subway in Lower Manhattan.
It happened around 1 a.m. on a southbound N train arriving at Canal Street.
"We all ran to the corner, just praying that we were going to be safe," said Fahmi Monsur, a witness.
It was pandemonium as passengers had nowhere to hide.
"I thought I was going to die. I didn't think this would ever happen to me, and now it happened," said Monsur.
According to police, a 34-year-old man was shot in the torso and the arm after arguing with another rider as the train pulled into the station.
The victim was taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
Police say the suspect and an unknown woman got off the train and ran when it arrived at the station. They have released photos of both.
The shooting happened less than 24 hours after Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul touted major improvements to subway safety, mainly a report that found a 16 percent drop in subway crimes since October 2022.
Most commuters are getting around safely, they said.
"This system will be safe, it will be functional, and it will be free from the disorder that we inherited," said Adams.
"I can't tell New Yorkers they should feel safe. I'm not going to even do that. But the data is showing that New Yorkers are telling us they feel safer and that's what I'm going to pay attention to," said Hochul.
Hochul attributed the reduction in crime to the addition of 1,200 police officers on subways since the fall. Since then, arrests are up 63 percent, while summonses for fare evasion rose by 170 percent.
Some riders said the numbers don't paint the full picture.
"On the train, there are a lot of people with mental health problems, a lot of homelessness. It's very eye opening, you see it all the times," said Jay Kabir, from Jamaica.
"He don't ride the trains every day. If he ride the trains every day, he would see," Bronx resident Marilyn Branch said.
Anyone with any information on Saturday's shooting is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). You can also submit a tip via their website or via DM on Twitter, @NYPDTips. All calls are kept confidential.