An MTA worker shot and critically injured a man who threatened to assault him and his coworker inside a Brooklyn subway station Tuesday night, police said.
The shooting unfolded inside the Union Street R-train station at the border of Gowanus and Park Slope just after 9 p.m. amid a dispute between two MTA workers and a 39-year-old straphanger, cops said.
The uniformed staffers — a revenue electronic maintainer and an armed transit revenue collector — were waiting for a southbound R train when an irate man started shouting at them and threatened to “beat them up,” NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper said at a press conference near the scene.
When the train arrived, the MTA employees got on with the crazed man following behind. He continued to lob threats at the revenue electronic maintainer, who repairs MetroCard vending machines, while the revenue collector attempted to calm him down, Kemper said.
An MTA worker shot and critically injured a man inside a Brooklyn subway station Tuesday night, police sources said.
The man is seen being carried out on a stretcher, as he was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. Paul Martinka
The MTA workers were waiting for a southbound R train when a man started to shout at them and threaten to “beat them up,” according to NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper. Paul MartinkaThe workers exited the train at the next station, Union Street, hoping to end the confrontation. But the straphanger followed them onto the platform and up to the mezzanine level, police said.
He allegedly came at the pair, prompting the revenue collector — who provides security while MetroCard machines that store cash are open — to pull out his gun.
“The armed MTA worker pulled out his firearm while repeatedly giving verbal commands for the male to back up,” Kemper said. “The male failed to comply and threatened to forcibly remove the firearm from the MTA employee.”
Police and detectives are standing near the crime scene where an MTA worker shot a robber in Brooklyn on Dec. 20, 2022. Paul MartinkaThe staffer then fired one round and shot the man once in the chest. He was rushed to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in critical condition.
The two MTA employees were not injured, Kemper said. The employee who fired the gun has more than two decades of experience with the MTA.
It’s unclear what the straphanger was angry about.
The incident unfolded inside the Union Street R-train station at the border of Gowanus and Park Slope after 9 p.m. Paul Martinka
The shooting occurred during a dispute between two MTA workers and a 39-year-old passenger. Paul MartinkaHowever, he is known by the NYPD and has been arrested in the past, Kemper added.
He has at least a dozen unsealed arrests for charges such as domestic violence, possession of stolen property, menacing, driving while intoxicated, and operating a vehicle without a license, sources said.
