NYC man shot, killed in 7th subway murder this year—suspect at large

A man was shot and killed on Saturday afternoon after a confrontation inside a Midtown subway station escalated, according to police.

The NYPD said shots rang out at 12:21 pm at the 53rd Street stop on the 7th Avenue line, per the New York Post.

Emergency crews performed CPR on the man right on the platform, then transported him in cardiac arrest to Bellevue Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

The victim and the shooter had been arguing on the uptown-bound platform, but it is unclear what they were arguing about. Investigators have not said whether the two men were acquainted, but it was not a random attack.

"Nothing random between these two individuals," an NYPD spokesperson said.

Seconds before the gunfire, an E train had arrived, and its doors had slid open. One witness said he heard two "pops" that were eight seconds apart.

"Everybody was running," said Mauricio Marroquin, a witness to the incident. "I seen a gentleman laying right in front," Marroquin said of the victim. "He was dressed in a blazer, looked like he was coming from work or something, bro. Going to work or coming from work. It was two shots, man. He only got hit with one, like, that's weird. And they were eight seconds apart, man. That's weird."

According to Marroquin, a small crowd gathered around the wounded man. One person did chest compressions until paramedics got there.

"Another gentleman was just talking to him, like, 'Hey, man, wake up, wake up, stay up, stay up, stay up,'" said Marroquin.

Surveillance video showed the gunman, who is still at large, wearing a red tracksuit and a black puffer vest.

The NYPD said in a post to X calling out for information on the suspect: "Wanted for a Homicide: On Saturday, October 17, 2026, at approximately 12:21 PM, on the northbound E train platform of the 53rd Street–7th Avenue subway station in Manhattan, this individual shot and killed a man in his 30s. The individual then fled on foot, heading northbound on 7th Avenue."

The killing is the seventh homicide on the city's transit system this year. Data through Sunday shows that's a 75 percent jump from the same stretch last year, when only four were recorded.

"Are they going to have to, like, put in metal detectors in the subway now?" asked Priscilla Rodriguez, 35, a data analyst from Rhode Island. "I just think it's sad people can't live their lives, their daily lives, go on about their business without being unsafe."