Cops Couldn’t Stop the NYC Subway Shooting. People Have Questions.

As NYPD officers flooded the streets of Brooklyn minutes after a man tossed two smoke bombs and opened fire on a busy subway train, the first cop on the scene struggled to call for backup. He couldn’t get his radio to work and asked the bloodied and panicked passengers to call 911 for him, according to the New York Times. 

The surveillance camera in the 36th Street station in Sunset Park, as well as the cameras in the stations before and after that one, were also not working. 

A total of 3,500 cops currently patrol New York City’s subway system, including an additional 250 that Mayor Eric Adams deployed in response to an increase in violent crime there over the course of the pandemic. And in September, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which runs the subway, announced that every single station had a camera. 

While Tuesday's attack was a rare case of gun violence on the nation’s largest transit system, the accused gunman initially avoided detection, led cops on a 30-hour manhunt across multiple boroughs, and then called to turn himself in. That’s left some New Yorkers wondering if the extra security is doing much good.