May 23, 2022

 

Man Fatally Shot on Manhattan Subway in Unprovoked Attack

A gunman shot and killed Daniel Enriquez, 48, on a Q train in Lower Manhattan on Sunday. “It’s horrific, this is a horror movie,” his sister said.

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1:28Man Fatally Shot on Manhattan Subway Train
The 48-year-old victim was shot in the chest while riding a Q train in Lower Manhattan, the police said. Investigators believe the attack was unprovoked.CreditCredit...Dakota Santiago for The New York Times

[Read the latest updates on the search for the gunman in the Q train shooting.]

As the Q train rumbled across the East River on a sunny Sunday morning, with a view of the Lower Manhattan skyline shimmering through the windows, a man paced up and down the aisle of the last car.

Dmitry Glivinskiy, a vocal coach who was sitting at the back of the car with headphones on, heard what he thought was a firecracker going off. He looked up and saw the man standing in the middle of the car, holding a gun.

The gunman had fired one shot — without provocation — striking Daniel Enriquez, 48, in the chest and killing him, the police later said.

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Daniel Enriquez, 48, was shot in the chest by a gunman while riding a Q train on Sunday.
Credit...via Griselda Vile
Daniel Enriquez, 48, was shot in the chest by a gunman while riding a Q train on Sunday.

As other passengers scrambled to the ends of the car and huddled, Mr. Glivinskiy, 34, called 911.

“At that point, you’re just kind of stuck,” he said. “You don’t know what you’re supposed to do. And you hope for the best.”

When the train pulled into Canal Street, the gunman fled just as police officers flooded the station, responding to the latest in a series of highly visible, random attacks in the subway that have shaken New York City’s confidence in a system vital to its life and its economy.

The Q train attack comes after the mass shooting last month on the N train that left at least 23 people injured and the shoving death of a woman in the Times Square station in January.

The violent episodes present an enormous obstacle for Mayor Eric Adams, who faces an increasingly impatient public as he struggles to rein in violence on the streets and subways to fulfill the central promise of his campaign.

He has sought to reassure riders by trying to relocate homeless people living in the subway and placing hundreds of additional police officers in the system.

Mr. Enriquez lived in Park Slope and had been headed to brunch in Manhattan after avoiding the subway during most of the pandemic because he feared for his health, Griselda Vile, his sister, said in an interview.