Brooklyn Subway Shooting Suspect Was Known to FBI but Was “Cleared” in 2019

The suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting was on the FBI’s terrorist radar in New Mexico until 2019, according to a report – and was cleared after ‘multiple interviews’. 

The shooter has not yet been publicly identified and he remains on the loose hours after opening fire on a busy northbound N train as it approached 36th Street in Sunset Park. 

Investigators believe they know who he is, having identified the suspect after finding a credit card at the scene that was also used to rent the U-Haul cargo van, two law enforcement sources told CNN.  

A federal law enforcement source told Newsweek the suspect was the previously known to the FBI, having been entered into the Guardian Lead system in New Mexico.

The system is the FBI’s way of coordinating information from other law enforcement partners about potential terrorism-related threats and suspicious activity reports. 

He was cleared after multiple interviews in 2019. 

The federal law enforcement source said that he is believed to have driven to New York from New Mexico. 

The FBI has now joined the hunt for him and armed police units are patrolling Brooklyn for any clue of his whereabouts. 

NYPD has located the U-Haul believed to have been used in Tuesday morning’s subway shooting abandoned in the street in Brooklyn, five miles from the scene of the crime. 

DailyMail.com obtained an alert that was issued to officers telling them that the suspect is connected to a U-Haul with an Arizona license plate AL31408. 

Police sources tell DailyMail.com the van was rented in Philadelphia. U-Haul is now helping with the search. 

The U-Haul was located late on Tuesday afternoon near Kings Avenue in Brooklyn, but there is still no sign of the suspect. 

Police evacuated people from the immediate area after the van’s discovery.

‘Police came for the van and told us to clear the store,’ said the manager of nearby King’s Piano World on Kings Highway. 

He told DailyMail.com: ‘Police blocked off the area. People were told not to walk in the area. They told us it was dangerous.’

The rental agreement obtained by CNN shows that the U-Haul reservation was made on April 6, and was scheduled to be picked up on April 11 at 2:01 p.m. ET.

The van was supposed to be rented for two days, according to the reservation.

Sebastien Reyes, U-Haul Vice President of Communications, said: ‘Law enforcement has alerted us to its search for a rental van and its possible connection to a suspect in today’s incident in New York City. 

‘We are working closely with authorities to ensure they have any and all available information to meet their needs.’ 

There is a heightened police presence all over the city, particularly on the subway, and some schools in Brooklyn have been told to shelter in place.  

Witnesses have described how the gunman calmly put on a gas mask on the slow-moving train this morning at 8.24am then tossed a smoke grenade down the carriage, causing havoc among commuters, before opening fire. 

The terrified commuters rushed to the other end of the train to try to get through to the next car but the door was locked. They were trapped on the train until it reached the next station. 

Video shows the moment the doors opened and wounded passengers spilled onto the platform, trailing blood. 

DailyMail.com can confirm that a .380 handgun was found inside the station, along with three extended magazines; one was empty, one was full and a third was jammed in the gun.  

Another bag was discovered that contained a batch of Falcon Rising fireworks and Seismic Wave firecrackers.  It’s unclear what he intended to do with them.  

The gunman then disappeared from 36th St, where no security cameras were in operation. 

Eric Adams, the mayor of New York, told WCBS Radio 880 AM that a preliminary review indicates there appeared to be some sort of malfunction with the camera system at the subway station in Tuesday’s shooting.

Adams said investigators are trying to determine whether one camera malfunctioned or whether cameras throughout the entire station malfunctioned. 

Janno Lieber, the chair and CEO of the Metro Transportation Authority (MTA), told CNN there are almost 10,000 cameras in the system including almost 600 cameras on the Brooklyn section of where the attack happened. 

He did not comment on why they were not working. 

He may also have jumped onto one of the other trains at the station, or fled into the subway tunnel. 

It comes amid a frightening spike in crime across the city, particularly on the subway where crimes are up by more than 60 percent from this time last year. 

The worst mass shooting in New York’s transit system was in December 1993, when Colin Ferguson opened fire on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train from New York City, killing six and injuring 19. 

Other train passengers stopped the perpetrator by tackling and holding him down. Mentally unstable, he fired his lawyers then called for President Bill Clinton to appear at his trial, and was sentenced to six life sentences.

ABC reports that police have obtained a photograph of the suspect from a bystander’s phone, but that image has not yet been released anywhere. 

The wounded and terrified commuters poured out of the subway doors and onto the platform at 36th Street, where they were filmed writhing on the ground in agony. 

The gunman remains at large ten hours after the shooting. 

NYPD units are now scouring the city’s empty subway tunnels to find the suspect and a city alert has been issued. but ten hours later, police are yet to release a single image of him. 

Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference that she had not yet ruled out terrorism as a motive but that it was not being investigated as an act of terrorism.

She admitted that police still had not yet been able to identify who the gunman was, much less find him.  

Police are now going door-to-door in Brooklyn asking store owners and residents in apartment buildings if they have any videos of the scene from around the time of the shooting in an attempt to find the gunman. 

‘I am not ruling anything out at this point,’ she said, as she asked New Yorkers to send photos, videos or any pieces of information that they thought may be relevant to police.  

Adams, who is in quarantine after being diagnosed with COVID-19, said in a video message: ‘We will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized. 

‘The NYPD is searching for the suspect. We will find him.’

Adams asked anyone with information, photos or videos of the suspect to come forward. 

Governor Kathy Hochul said: ‘This morning ordinary New Yorkers woke up in anticipation of a relatively normal day. They left their homes, went to school, their jobs and to a normal life.

‘That was brutally disrupted by an individual so cold hearted and depraved of heart. This individual is still on the loose – this person is dangerous. This is an active shooter situation right now in the city of New York.’   

Schools surrounding the subway station were ordered to shelter in place and an amber alert was issued throughout much of the city. 

One witness told The New York Post the gunman – who was described as a ‘5ft 5 black man weighing 170lbs’, fired ‘too many rounds to count’. 

It remains unclear what type of weapon he used. 

One witness, Yav Montano, told CNN that he was on the northbound N train between 59th Street in Brooklyn and 36th Street when a smoke bomb went off inside the carriage.

‘I thought he was an MTA worker at first because I was like, I didn’t like pay too much attention. You know? You’ve got the orange on,’ he said.  

‘It was crazy. I take the N train every morning to get to where I need to work. From 59th Street to 36th Street, the N-train is express, is where all the dramatics happened.

‘I’m in the third part of the express N train. The smoke grenade went off two minutes before we got to 36th street platform. The train was inching towards. It seemed like it was planned.

‘This smoke bomb, and what I thought was fireworks, but I’m hearing it was gunshots. I have no words for what I could see. I was in the car – I was in the front end of the third car. Everything happened at the back end.

‘People started migrating to the front of the car. I don’t know if people know this, it’s one of those old things where they locked the door to stop people traveling between trains. 

‘There were people in the other car who saw what was happening and they tried to open it but couldn’t. There was blood on the floor, a lot of blood trailing on the floor. 

‘At the time, I didn’t think it was a shooting. It sounded like fireworks.

‘People trampling over each other, trying to get over each other. Thankfully the train moved to the next stop and everyone filed off the train,’ he said. 

NYPD units are now scouring the city’s empty subway tunnels looking for the gunman, who is feared to have jumped onto the tracks at 36th Street and fled.  

Cemil Toseglu, who runs a store opposite the station, told how his terrified 17-year-old daughter was on the train on her way to school when it was attacked.

He told DailyMail.com: ‘My daughter was going to school and was on the same train when it happened. She said there was smoke and she was told to get into the other train.

‘She’s now safe and came to my office before I sent her home. She is okay but is a little surprised. I didn’t think it was that serious but she then told me people were yelling that it was a man with a gun and maybe a bomb.’

An FDNY spokesman told DailyMail.com: ‘Originally, the call came in as smoke in the subway station. Upon arrival, officers found multiple people shot and undetonated devices.’ 

Shocking video showed blood-covered victims strewn across the ground at the subway station as smoke billowed out of the train.

One person was seen lying still on the floor with their hands over their face and their legs raised after the terrifying attack.

Others had lost shoes and had their clothes torn as the New York subway’s speaker system blared out messages to the passengers. 

Commuters were screamed at to get on a different train to safety while the wounded were treated by emergency services.

Eric Adams’ spokesman said on Twitter: ‘@NYCMayor continues to be briefed on the situation. While we gather more information, we ask New Yorkers to stay away from this area for their safety and so that first responders can help those in need and investigate.’ 

NYC Council Member Sunset Park Alexa Aviles said: ‘We are aware of reports of a shooting at 36th St subway station, and we are in touch with our city partners and NYPD on the scene.’

She added: ‘Please exercise caution and seek alternate travel routes. We will share further details as they become available.’

Senator Kevin Parker said: ‘Terrifying report out of Sunset Park. We have to move New York forward and break this cycle of gun violence. Hoping everyone will be ok.’

Chi Osse, NYC Council Member for Brooklyn, said: ‘Horrifying news to hear this morning. Praying for the safety and recovery for our neighbors in Sunset Park. This madness must end.’

The Office of New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams said: ‘Our office is monitoring the information coming from Sunset Park, and praying for the New Yorkers who have been shot in this horrific act of gun violence.’

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