Shooting on public transit spurs debate on MTA safety

Community members reflect on the Brooklyn subway shooting. // Photo courtesy of Cody Gee Sheridan Hmelar.

On Tuesday, April 12, a man riding on the N train in Brooklyn opened fire on an unsuspecting crowd. Twenty-nine people were injured, ten from direct gunfire, with many disembarking at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park. Tanya Chernyack, a Sunset Park resident, was planning on using the subway to return to the office later this month before the shooting happened. 

“I was only on the train just now for the first time, since I work from home,” Chernyack said. “And I might have gone in that day, and I didn't. And so it just kind of makes you think of the ‘what ifs.’”   

Armando owns a flower shop across the street from the station and has lived in Sunset Park for over 18 years. He witnessed a flood of people rushing out of the subway around 8 a.m. on Tuesday. 

“After everyone ran out, there [were] a lot of cop cars and fire [trucks],” he said. “And I saw them take the people that were injured from the front of the station, and they couldn't walk.” 

For many New Yorkers, public transportation, such as the subway, is the only feasible option to get to work. However, public transportation has not proven to be the most secure option. “You don't feel good being on the trains, and you should feel safe on public transit,” Chernyack said. 

Brianna Cabezas, a freshman nursing student at Hofstra who grew up in Flushing, Queens, is worried about her safety on New York transit. “Growing up in Queens my whole life, it's definitely something that worries me,” she said. 

Cabezas took the bus during middle and high school as her primary form of transit. “I've always grown up having to stay vigilant when I take public transportation,” she said. “But this is like a whole new level of scary that I'm not used to.”  

An MTA worker who resides in Sunset Park has been granted anonymity. “I’m scared that something like that might happen on one of my bus routes in the city,” they said. “This is not the neighborhood I know, this is not the neighborhood I grew up in, this is not who we are as New Yorkers.” 

For Chernyack, community is everything. Sunset Park is known for being a multicultural mecca, and she hopes this event is not what it becomes known for. 

“I hope it doesn't negatively affect the neighborhood,” she said. “People associate the shooting with the neighborhood exclusively. It feels unfair.”  

City officials are working to reduce crime on public transit in New York City. On Monday, April 25, Mayor Eric Adams talked about the new budget at the state of the city address. Adams said he will expand response teams throughout the city, adding trained clinicians to connect people with resources, and direct NYPD officers to enforce MTA rules. Further, he called for changes to state and federal laws including Kendra’s Law, which would allow judges to mandate outpatient psychiatric care for individuals who fit certain criteria.  

As for the MTA, agency leaders have been focusing on fare-beating as an anti-crime strategy since at least 2018 – including since the COVID-19 pandemic, during which subway-system evasions have doubled. 

 Despite these measures, New Yorkers still feel unsafe. “We need to do something more,” Armando said. “Because it’s not safe at all.”