Police released video footage Tuesday of the man responsible for a shooting near Penn Station on Monday afternoon that left a 58-year-old man injured.
Law enforcement sources said the victim was hit with a stray bullet meant for another individual, with whom the suspect had been arguing at the Midtown transit hub just before 5:42 p.m. on Aug. 23.
According to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, the shooter got into a dispute with the intended target when his request was denied.
“The dispute spills out onto the street” near the corner of West 31st Street and 7th Avenue, Shea said during an Aug. 23 press conference. “At some point in time, one of the males — a male Black, possibly with a red backpack — pulls out a firearm, discharging one round which misses the intended target.”
Cops said the bullet instead struck the 58-year-old man as he walked through the area on his way toward meeting his wife. The gunman fled the scene in an unknown direction.
Officers from the Midtown South Precinct responded to the incident along with EMS units, who rushed the injured victim to Bellevue Hospital in stable condition. Much of the area was frozen for a time as police investigated the shooting.
During his Monday press conference, Shea expressed confidence that detectives would eventually catch the perpetrator responsible, but he again expressed frustration over the recent spate of gun violence across New York City.
The commissioner has previously called for changes to the state’s bail reform laws and greater activity in the criminal justice system to ensure suspects arrested in gun cases remain locked up on high bail.
“We’ve seen what’s happened over the last 18-24 months. We’ve had all the discussions. I think it’s past time to talk. About 10 blocks north of here, we had a young child shot months ago and we had the same discussion,” Shea said, referencing May’s shooting in Times Square that injured a four-year-old tourist and two other people. “The marches are great, but we don’t need marches anymore. We need action. We need laws that help the police rather than hurt and take tools away from the police. I view this incident today as the confluence of a series of bad policies and this is what you get when you get that. We need people to be held accountable when they carry guns. When they’re caught carrying guns, they need to go to jail.”
Police described the perpetrator in Monday’s shooting as a Black man who wore a black long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and black-and-white sneakers while carrying a black-and-red backpack.
He’s shown in the security video that the NYPD released Tuesday engaging another man in a conversation while departing an escalator at Penn Station.
Anyone with information regarding the Penn Station shooting can call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish, dial 888-57-PISTA). You can also submit tips online at crimestoppers.nypdonline.org, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
