An armed MTA subway guard shot a homeless man after he tried to barge into a shuttered station in Brooklyn early Wednesday, authorities said.
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The revenue collection agent shot the man, who was wielding a screwdriver, once in the chest during a confrontation at about 2 a.m., authorities said.
As reported by the New York Daily News:
A law enforcement source said the agent was standing at the station entrance when the man tried to enter. The agent told him the station was closed and a dispute erupted, the source said.
The homeless man “lunged” at the agent, according to Derrick Echevarria, a divisional chairman with Transport Workers Union Local 100.
“He tried to avoid him,” Echevarria said. “He tried to walk away, but he kept following him.”
The wounded man was taken to Kings County Hospital, where he was in stable conditions, the law enforcement source said.
The agent thought the screwdriver was a knife, as the situation became life or death. The agent had been on the job for 26 years and never before fired his weapon. He was interviewed by police, but not charged.
SOURCE: NYDN
