Man shot dead in New York subway station after argument

A man was shot and killed inside a subway station a few blocks from Times Square, in Midtown Manhattan, on Saturday afternoon (17), according to police.

The person, whose identity has not been released by authorities, was on the northbound platform of the 7th Avenue station at 53rd Street, where the B, D and E lines pass, shortly after noon, police said.

According to a police authority familiar with the case, the man was involved in an argument with a passenger on the platform. It is not clear what caused the fight or whether the two exchanged physical attacks. The argument, however, soon escalated, moving from the platform onto the train and then back onto the platform, according to police.

At one point during the confrontation, the second man pulled out a gun and shot the victim once in the chest. He then fled the scene north on 7th Avenue, police said.

Police officers were alerted to the incident shortly before 12:30 pm local time.

The injured man, who was in his 30s, was taken by emergency crews to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition. He died shortly after, according to police. No arrests had been made as of Saturday afternoon. Officers were looking for a man wearing a red tracksuit, a black vest and a face mask.

The episode of violence mobilized a series of police vehicles and ambulances to the heart of Manhattan this Saturday, according to videos posted on social media.

Francia Navela, who works at a chestnut cart near the metro station, said she heard commotion inside. Seconds later, a crowd of passengers rushed out onto the busy street, some screaming.

“People were running out, crying,” Navela said. "But then I didn't want to look at it anymore, because it was too horrible."

Shortly afterwards, she said, paramedics arrived and removed a body on a stretcher. Navela saw rescuers try to revive the victim as they rushed him to the ambulance.

"They tried to revive him, but they couldn't," he said. "You could tell he was in serious condition."

The movement of trains on lines C, D and E in Manhattan was interrupted in both directions while police officers responded to the incident and investigated the case. Other nearby lines also suffered delays, according to an alert issued by the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA), which caused disruption to travel over the weekend.

Serious crimes on the city's public transportation system have increased slightly this year compared to the same period last year. Even so, records of incidents on the subway have been falling after a period of turbulence that followed the Covid-19 pandemic.

As of October 11, 1,697 crimes had been recorded in the transportation system since the beginning of the year, 27 more than in the same period in 2025, according to the New York Police Department. The increase was driven by assaults classified as serious crimes, including those committed against police officers and MTA employees, and by thefts, police said. This year, agents made 51 arrests for carrying a firearm in the transportation system, the highest number since this type of record began.

Despite this, 2026 remains the second safest year for the public transport system in the last 15 years, excluding the pandemic years when passenger numbers were especially low.