10 shot by gunman in US subway, NYPD locates van used by suspect

Police found an unoccupied U-Haul van in Brooklyn matching the description and license plate number of the vehicle being sought in connection with Tuesdays shooting on a rush-hour subway train, a law enforcement official said.

Police were closing off a street about four miles from the shooting scene and clearing nearby businesses while awaiting a bomb squad and the highly specialized emergency services unit.

The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Officers around the city had been told that if they spotted the U-Haul truck, they should stop it and detain all occupants immediately.

Earlier, a gunman in a gas mask and a construction vest set off a smoke canister on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn and shot at least 10 people Tuesday, authorities said. Police were scouring the city for the shooter and a rental truck.

A scene of horror unfolded as frightened commuters ran from the train as others limped out of it. At least one rider collapsed on the platform.

“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS. Smoke poured out of the train car as the door opened, he added.

Five people were in critical condition but expected to survive. At least 29 in all were treated at hospitals for gunshot wounds, smoke inhalation and other conditions.

The gunfire erupted on a train that pulled into a station in the Sunset Park neighborhood, about a 15-minute ride from Manhattan and predominantly home to Hispanic and Asian communities.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the attack was not being investigated as terrorism, but that she was “not ruling out anything.” The shooters motive was unknown.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)