One person died and five others were injured yesterday Monday by bullets on a subway station platform in New York, the police department of the American metropolis announced.

The man who succumbed to his injuries was 34 years old, while the injured are two women and three men, aged between 14 and 71, police officers said during a press conference at street level in front of the outdoor elevated station in the district Bronx, which is considered the most deprived of the metropolis of about 8.5 million souls.

The attacker was alone and started shooting “indiscriminately” at passengers, said Michael Kemper, a senior police officer.

The city was marked in 2022 by the crime of sixties, who opened fire in a crowded subway station without, miraculously, killing anyone — some thirty people were injured.

Yesterday afternoon, two groups of youths were “fighting” on a train entering the station when a member of one group pulled a gun and opened fire in the direction of the platform as people got off or boarded, Mr Kemper explained.

The officer declined to provide details on the identities of the victims. He limited himself to saying that “one of them, a 34-year-old man, unfortunately passed away” at the hospital where he was rushed.

Of the five injured, who are being treated, four suffered “serious injuries,” a spokesman for the New York Fire Department (FDNY) told AFP by email.

The perpetrator escaped and the police are asking for any witnesses to come forward and provide any information they have.

At the Mount Eden Avenue station, which was completely blocked off, an AFP photojournalist saw numerous FDNY patrol cars and ambulances. Earlier, drone footage captured a stationary train and plainclothes police working on the dock.

The event “is not normal (…) fire on the metro network (…) is extremely rare and unacceptable”, emphasized Mr. Kemper.

Crime, especially gun homicides, has seen a net decline in New York since 2022-2023, following the pandemic, while carrying guns in public is tightly controlled, compared to other US cities and states.