One dead, five injured in New York subway shooting

NEW YORK (AFP): One person was killed and five others injured in a shooting at a New York subway station just ahead of the busy rush hour Monday afternoon, officials said.

Authorities were alerted just after 4:30 p.m. (2130 GMT) and six people were taken to hospital, the fire department said.

“We don’t believe this was a random shooting… We believe this shooting all stems from a dispute between two groups that started on a train,” said the city’s police transit chief Michael Kemper.

“Unfortunately one of the victims, a 34-year-old (male), was pronounced deceased.”

There was a major emergency response at the elevated Mount Eden Avenue subway station in the northern borough of the Bronx, nine miles (14 kilometers) north of Manhattan’s Times Square, an AFP correspondent saw.

Police detectives and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were at the scene conducting a fingerprint search following the shootings.

Mass shootings are common in the United States, where there are more guns than people and about a third of adults own a firearm.

Polls show a majority of Americans favor stricter gun regulations, but the powerful gun lobby and mobilized voters supporting the country’s culture of strong gun rights have repeatedly stymied lawmakers from taking action.

New York has a lower homicide rate than many major US cities, and possession of firearms in public is illegal for civilians in almost all cases.