A man was shot and killed in a Brooklyn subway station Wednesday night, police said – marking the fifth fatal shooting to occur in a transit facility this year.
NYPD officials said 47-year-old Freddie Weston was found at around 11:15 p.m. in the Rockaway Avenue A/C station in Bed-Stuy with a gunshot wound to his head.
First responders took him to Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said Thursday they were not certain about a motive for the shooting, and did not make any immediate arrests. Officials said the shooting took place somewhere on the station’s mezzanine and detectives were working to recover surveillance video.
Michelle Mitchell, a neighbor of Weston's on Sterling Place, said he recently moved to the city from upstate New York and was happy about a new job he got stocking shelves overnight at a Queens supermarket. She said she saw him the night of the shooting, possibly heading to the train, and described him as a nice man who could often be seen walking his dog.
"Just to see him he was a pleasant guy. He was just minding his business he was always by himself," she said. "That dog is gonna miss him."
As gun violence continues to decline across most of the city, multiple shooting incidents in and around subway stations this year have contributed to a sense of anxiety among commuters.
In January, 45-year-old Richard Henderson was fatally shot while intervening in a fight over loud music being played on a train approaching the Franklin Avenue-Medgar Evers College station in Crown Heights, according to police. The suspect, who is still at large, reportedly boarded the train at the Rockaway Avenue Subway station.
A month later, an argument between two groups of teenagers at the Mount Eden Avenue station in the Bronx spilled out onto the platform and ended in a spray of bullets that killed bystander Obed Beltran-Sanchez, 35, and wounded five others. Two teens were arrested in connection with the shooting.
Several weeks after that, in late February, a fight aboard a southbound D train ended with 45-year-old William Alvarez fatally shot at the 182nd-183rd Street Station in the Bronx. Police arrested three suspects.
On March 14th, Dajuan Robinson, 36, was shot in the head with his own gun at Brooklyn’s Hoyt-Schermerhorn Street station after allegedly instigating a fight. Police said Younece Obuad, 32, managed to wrestle Robinson’s gun away during a fight on an A train at 4:50 p.m.
The incidents prompted Gov. Kathy Hochul to send National Guard troops into busy subway stations to help commuters feel safer. But the patrols were largely absent at many of the subway stations where violent incidents had taken place, according to subway riders.
Ricky Martinez, 39, lives near the station and was taking the train Thursday morning. He said the station normally feels a little dangerous and he's usually relieved when he sees officers patrolling the platform.
"It makes the daily pedestrian better — the daily commute, because you feel more secure," he said.
Correction: A previous version of this story and an accompanying photo referred to the wrong Rockaway Avenue subway station. The shooting took place at the C station in Bed-Stuy.
This story has been updated with additional comment.
