Boy, 15, shot dead on Queens subway train, NYPD says

NYPD detectives are searching for an assailant who shot and killed a 15-year-old boy on an A train subway Friday afternoon in Far Rockaway, officials said.

Two groups of teens were arguing on the southbound train when the boy was shot once in the chest about 3:45 p.m., NYPD Transit Chief Jason Wilcox said Friday evening.

Police believe the shooting occurred between 125th Avenue and the Far Rockaway-Mott Avenue station in Queens, where the train arrived. Police pulled the teen from the train and called paramedics to perform lifesaving aid on the train platform, Wilcox said.

The boy was taken to Cohen Children’s Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.

The teen was not identified. Police said they were still trying to determine the motive of the shooting and if it was gang-related.

“The investigation showed this was not a random act of violence,” Wilcox said. “There was definitely a dispute escalating.”

Police are also reviewing surveillance footage from the train and train station, as well as surrounding businesses. They are asking for any witnesses to come forward. There were no officers on the train where the shooting happened, but two officers were working the Mott Avenue platform when the train arrived, Wilcox said.

“Numerous people may have seen or heard what transpired,” Wilcox said. “After the shooting happened, everyone fled into the street, so detectives are looking for additional footage in the neighborhood.”

The killing is the eighth homicide of the year in the New York City subway system, in addition to a fatal stabbing on an MTA bus Sunday in the Bronx, Wilcox said.

Richard Davey, president of the MTA’s New York City Transit, said there have been arrests made in each of the prior killings.

He assured the public the subways are safe and include 10,000 cameras throughout the city but said police were working to eliminate illegal guns and knives on the subway.

“Obviously any time an act of violence occurs in the subway it’s taken seriously,” Davey said. “We have work to do, no doubt about it. We’ve got to stop this.”

Check back for updates on this developing story.