A retired correction officer shot and killed a man on the platform at Brooklyn’s Borough Hall station after an altercation on the subway, according to authorities. The incident began around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday when the 69-year-old ex-correction officer walked between two men in their late 20s as he was boarding the 5 train at Bowling Green. “He tried to get on and he had to walk through them and one started talking trash and he was saying, ‘Don’t touch me. Get out of my face,’ and everybody on the train was trying to mind their business but they were getting loud,” a witness who identified himself as Thomas told Metro New York.
One of the younger men reportedly punched the older man in the head as the train reached Borough Hall. “He just clocked the guy,” another witness told the Daily News. “The older man was taken back, I saw him pull the gun out of the pocket.”
Other passengers ran off the train as the scuffle spilled onto the platform, and the correction officer put a clip in the gun. The two men were running up a flight of stairs when the older man opened fire. “I was getting off the 4 train and then pop pop pop, four or five shots, it was gunshots,” said Fatim Manuel, who was getting off another train. “I was desperate to get help. I just wanted to get out.”
The New York Times reports that the victim was pronounced dead at Brooklyn Hospital Center, and the shooter was taken to Long Island College Hospital. The victim’s friend is being questioned by police.
Norman Seabrook, the president of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, confirmed that the shooter is a former correction officer and said he was “forced to use his weapon.” He added, “I believe that we should wait until all circumstances are in before rushing to judgment.”
