what we know
By Nia Prater, Intelligencer staff writer, who covers New York politics
Photo: Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
On Thursday, the evening rush-hour commute quickly turned to panic when a scuffle on a subway train resulted in one man being shot in the head at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Brooklyn. Videos shared on social media captured much of the fight, as well as frantic scenes huddling desperately with a gunman feet away. The shooting happened despite recent efforts by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul to deter violent crime in the subway system, including increased bag checks and the deployment of National Guard members in stations. Here’s what we know so far.
What happened?
Around 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, Dajuan Robinson, 36, confronted Younece Obuad, 32, on a northbound A train leaving the Nostrand Avenue station, according to police. The express train would not stop for several minutes before reaching the next stop at Hoyt-Schermerhorn station.
Robinson was armed with a .380 Ruger pistol and a knife, sources told the New York Post. Multiple witnesses described Robinson as being “aggressive and provocative” toward Obuad, NYPD chief of transit Michael Kemper said Thursday.
“Words were exchanged between the two, and during the words, it became physical,” Kemper said.
Cell-phone footage from inside the car shows what happened next. In one video, Robinson, standing, is screaming at Obuad, who was seated at the end of the cab. “I’ll beat you up! You think you’re gonna beat up cops? I’ll beat you up,” he said.
Although it’s not clear what Robinson meant, one passenger on the train seemed to think he was referencing the brawl between NYPD officers and several migrants outside of a Times Square migrant shelter last month. “He thinks you’re a migrant. He think you an immigrant,” a woman says off-camera.
Robinson’s tirade continued to escalate. “F- - - you. F- - - your kind. F- - -your race,” he said.
As the heckling continued, Obuad got up, and the two circled each other in fighting stances as other passengers quickly moved to the other side of the car. “There’s babies on here!” one woman yelled as the men began to fight.
After falling into empty seat, Robinson pummeled Obuad from above. At one point, an unidentified woman rummaged through her bag then stabbed Robinson in the lower back with her own weapon. “You stabbed me?”Robinson said several times as a red blood stain grew across his back.
At another point, a man in a reflective vest attempted to separate the men, but the fight continued and Robinson pulled a gun from his jacket pocket. The person recording turns away from the scene to flee as the train pulled into station and several gunshots echoed throughout the station as passengers tumbled out onto the platform.
The woman who recorded the video later told CBS News, “I see blood coming out when they’re on top of each other. He pulled out the gun, and I said, ‘It’s time to go.’”
“Robinson ended up being shot twice in the right side of his face —including through his eye — once in the neck and another time in the chest,” the Post reported. He is listed in critical condition at a hospital.
Police immediately swarmed the station, quickly detaining Obuad.
In another video, recorded by Joyce Philippe, an ABC News reporter, passengers on a different car in the station crouch down on the floor as officers can be seen running past the open train doors.
“NYPD was telling everyone to get down and stay down while the train doors stayed open,” Philippe said in an interview with the Daily News. “It was an extremely terrifying moment and people were afraid for their lives.”
During a Friday briefing, Jeffrey Maddrey, the chief of department, suggested that the incident was captured on body-worn cameras, but he said that any such footage couldn’t be released yet, citing an “active investigation.”
“As the investigation unfolds, I’m sure we’ll be releasing more video. We’ll be doing further updates and, ultimately, our great district attorney here in Kings County will make a decision on what’s going to happen as far as charges,” he said.
He also praised the straphangers who tried to stop the fight: “It was incredible what people from the community did yesterday, people who tried to intervene.”
Who are the people involved, and will they face charges?
Dajuan Robinson, 36, was identified as the man who carried the gun and was ultimately shot. He entered the Nostrand Avenue station through an emergency gate without paying fare, then boarded the train, police said. He previously served five years in prison for a robbery committed in 2014 and was on parole until 2022, according to the New York Daily News.
Younece Obuad, 32, was named by the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, which announced Friday that it was not pursuing charges against him.
“Yesterday’s shooting inside a crowded subway car was shocking and deeply upsetting,” spokesperson Oren Yaniv said in a statement. “The investigation into this tragic incident is ongoing but, at this stage, evidence of self-defense precludes us from filing any criminal charges against the shooter.”
As for the woman who reportedly stabbed Robinson, law enforcement is currently searching for her. Her identity hasn’t been revealed, and it’s not clear what charges she might face, if any.
How have elected city officials responded?
During a series of media appearances Friday morning, Mayor Adams suggested the shooting was linked to mental illness and was evidence that both the state and the city need to do more to address the mental-health crisis in the subway system. “You’ve got to give us more power, Albany, to deal with involuntary removals for those who are dealing with severe mental-health illness,” he said during aninterviewon 77 WABC.
It’s not yet known if the man who seemed to start the altercation has any known history of mental illness. Recent reporting from the New York Post revealed that nearly half of the individuals arrested for assaulting MTA employees in the subways have extensive criminal records as well as a history of mental illness. The outlet found that 20 out of 38 perpetrators arrested had a minimum of five arrests associated with them.
In a statement, Councilmember Lincoln Restler said, “This is a horrible tragedy and deeply unnerving to the millions of New Yorkers who take the subway every day.”
Curtis Sliwa, the former Republican mayoral candidate, said that more police officers are needed in the subway system in order to tackle crime. “Hochul and Adams say we have a ‘perception’ of crime, but it’s a reality. We need NYPD patrolling the cars, not just stations. We need to be proactive against subway violence, not reactive,” he said on X.
This post has been updated throughout.
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