Ten people were shot by a masked man who set off a gas canister in a train car on the city's underground transportation system on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
She said that the attack was not being investigated as a terrorist attack, although nothing was ruled out.
A total of 16 people were injured in the incident, six of them from shrapnel, smoke inhalation or other causes, officials said.
Five of the gunshot victims were in critical condition, but miraculously there were no deaths reported.
Governor Kathy Hochul said that the shooter escaped and that it was considered an active shooter situation.
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The city's tranquillity was brutally shattered by a "cold-hearted" individual who is still on the loose, she said.
Sewell said the man she described as African American donned a green vest and put on a gas mask, set off the smoke canister and shot into the train car as it was about to leave before disappearing from the station in the Brooklyn borough of New York.
The train pulled into the next station with some of the injured.
Officials said that it appeared to be a lone wolf and there did not appear to be any others involved.
