The police on Sunday identified the man who was shot and killed inside a subway station in Midtown Manhattan a day earlier, and asked for the public’s help in finding the shooter.
Darrel Rodriguez, 26, was shot on Saturday in the 7th Avenue Station on 53rd Street, a few blocks from Times Square, the police said. An unidentified man approached Mr. Rodriguez on the northbound E train platform, drew a gun and shot him once in the chest, they said.
Officers were alerted to the shooting just before 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. Mr. Rodriguez was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The police said they were seeking a man wearing a red tracksuit, a black vest and a face mask. No arrests had been made as of early Monday morning.
The two men had been arguing, a law enforcement official with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times. It was not immediately clear what had sparked the dispute or whether the men had been physical with each other, but the argument moved from the platform onto a train and then back to the platform, the police said.
After the shooting, the gunman fled the station and headed north on 7th Avenue, the police said.
Charlton D’Souza, president of the mass transit advocacy group Passengers United representing New York commuters, called for a subway ban on full-face, ski-mask-style coverings that are not required for medical reasons. He said that concealed faces hinder police investigations.
“Yesterday’s incident, the guy had a face covering. We couldn’t really see him,” said Mr. D’Souza. “And so, that’s a big issue and it’s making it hard for NYPD obviously to do their job.”
Mr. D’Souza pointed to Philadelphia, which enacted a ban on ski masks in certain public places, including public transit, in late 2023.
Mr. Rodriguez’s twin brother, Derick Rodriguez of Waco, Texas, said in an interview that he sensed something was wrong when a text message to his brother on Sunday morning did not appear to go through.
“Something’s coming,” he said recalled thinking.
When hours went by without a reply, he started calling police precincts. He called his father, who said Darrel Rodriguez hadn’t come home the night before.
He called their mother, and a detective who was with her got on the phone and explained that there had been an altercation on the subway.
“It’s like a black hole in your heart,” he said. “It is grief, but it is something deeper because this is your half.”
The fraternal twins grew up in the Bronx. Derick, older by a few minutes, left in 2021 to join the Army.
Darrel Rodriguez stayed in the Bronx and worked as a security guard. Derick Rodriguez said he did not know where he had been headed when he was shot.
The post Victim in Fatal Manhattan Subway Shooting Is Identified appeared first on New York Times.
