Posted by A man was killed Monday evening after being pushed onto the subway tracks in an unprovoked attack at the 125th Street station at Lexington Avenue in East Harlem, according to the Police Department.
At 6:48 p.m., a man on the uptown platform shoved the person onto the tracks in front of the oncoming No. 4 train, which was unable to stop, a police spokeswoman said. The suspected attacker is in custody, according to the spokeswoman. The police did not identify either the victim or the suspect.
Train service at the station resumed by 9 p.m., but a large number of police officers remained at the scene. Some riders expressed fear of violence on platforms and on trains.
“The subway has been insane lately,” Ray Velez, 60, from the Bronx, said as he waited on the 125th Street platform two hours after the attack. “You have to look everywhere now. It’s just out of control.”
Others who live and work near the station expressed a weary sense of frustration. They described regular encounters with people experiencing problems related to drug addiction, homelessness and mental illness, and their own efforts to remain on guard.
“I’m very careful” inside the station, said Geri Tolentino, 54, who has worked for two years at the Harlem Food Square deli, near the entrance to the 125th Street station. “It’s not surprising — there’s a lot of crime downstairs.”
The attack is the latest in a series of violent episodes that have led officials to increase the police presence in the subway and seek to reassure New Yorkers that the system is safe. Earlier this month, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that she would deploy the National Guard and the State Police in the system to increase security and ease New Yorkers’ fears.
But less than two weeks after Ms. Hochul’s announcement, a fight on the A train that ended with a shooting reinforced the difficulties of policing every inch of the sprawling system. In that confrontation, captured in a dramatic video recorded by a passenger, a man who had been menacing a rider was first stabbed and then shot with his own handgun.
Karla Marie Sanford contributed reporting.