 have been found nearby. Initial reports suggesting at least five people have been shot by a man wearing a gas mask and an orange construction vest. He has fled the scene. Several law enforcement sources saying the shooter may have thrown a device before opening fire at the 36th Street and Fourth Avenue station in Sunset Park a short while ago around 8 30 a.m. local time that is peak morning rush hour. The New York Police Department warning New Yorkers to avoid the area and to expect emergency vehicles and delays. Local schools have been placed on lockdown. So for more on this breaking news development in studio senior correspondent Owen Ultiman and our correspondent Ariel Oceran tracking all the latest developments. Ariel, what's the latest? What can you tell us? Right. Benita, as you described, 8 30 a.m. local time in Brooklyn peak rush hour. According to the NYPD, the New York Police Department, at least 13 people have been injured in what appears to be a shooting attack. Most of the injuries are by gunfire. But since there was also smoke on the scene, there were suspected explosive devices on the scene. But just a moment ago, the NYPD said that there are no active explosive devices. So that's source for for calm. Now this happened on the station and 36th Street, a convergence of the D and R lines. Now, as you mentioned, the police are seeking looking after the shooter who's described as a man in a workers vest and a gas mask. Now it's not quite clear at this stage an hour and a half after the incident, whether this is terror or another one of the multiple shooting incidents that happened in New York with prevalent gun violence over there. This is an issue that the newly the newly elected mayor has been trying to tackle up until this up until the beginning of April. There's been a massive uptick in gun shootings and gun violence shooting incidents rose from 260 to 296 from the previous year. And so this is something that the mayor is definitely trying to tackle. And as I said an hour and a half after it's still not clear whether this is terror or or just unfortunately to say regular gun violence that is not uncommon in New York City. As you say, the situation is unfolding as we speak and we know that that attacker is on the run. I'm going to turn to you, our senior correspondent Owen Ultiman, give us a sense of what it means to target regardless of the motive Brooklyn at this time of the morning local time rush hour. Yeah, obviously a soft target, Benita. People are going to be at this subway station to try to get to work. Obviously the subway is the crucial artery of transportation in New York, even in an age of remote work. And we should say Sunset Park is largely an immigrant neighborhood, Asian, Latino. So these are people who might not be able always to work remotely. And so might need to be taking the subway to get into work so one would imagine it would have been crowded with those who were waiting for the trains or potentially those who were getting off. And obviously a soft target because it's impossible the 100 plus subway stations across the four boroughs that have them in New York, it'd be impossible. One would think to police them to that degree. And Ariel is absolutely right in saying that we don't know the motive and terrorism can't be ruled out. That said, when you look at the reports from those closest to the action in New York, they, unlike us here in Israel, we facing an event like this would immediately look to terrorism, right? Even if we didn't know and couldn't say that it was terrorist, that would be our immediate association because that's the context in which we live here. In New York, when you see this in the reporting in the hour or so after the event, they live in a different context where the fear is not terrorism, notwithstanding 9-11, which has receded far into the past. The fear is of mass shootings and the fear is of rising violence. And that's where they see this episode is falling into a pattern of. And so that seems to be what they suspect is the cause. Of course, what exactly is the motive of the person who did this? That's still, we don't know. There was one person at the subway station who told The New York Post that she felt he was a quote, five foot five, 170 pound black man. So 1.65 meters, I would say, and maybe 80 kilograms in terms of the description of the person. So not someone who's especially large. But again, that is at least the eyewitness report. But again, we don't have any details about whether that's right nor their confirmation for other witnesses, let alone why this person would in the middle of a rush hour take out a gun and throw devices around a subway station and start shooting at people. It's just awful. You are looking at live images on your screen right now and we are hearing that police say there are no active explosives at that time. I repeat, New York police saying there are no active explosives at this time. Ariel, what is the latest about the search underway right now? As I say, we can see on our screen the New York police department and you can imagine searching for someone who initially had a gas mask on, presumably still doesn't. What is the latest on that manhunt right now as we speak? So according to the New York police department, they sent out two messages, one calling people to avoid the area of the train station and another asking eyewitnesses to inform them to call if they have any information as to the whereabouts of the shooter. He is still at large and so there's a large scale manhunt to try and find him at this point an hour and a half after the incident in a city like New York with multiple ways of getting from place to place, whether it's a subway, buses, taxis, at this point he could be anywhere but there's definitely a large scale manhunt after him and police are asking anyone who has any information to get in contact with them to help finding him. Yeah that's right, if we thought the manhunt Ariel was a difficult one here in Tel Aviv after that a terror attack a week ago one can imagine as you say in Brooklyn in a rush hour in a city as diverse and as big as New York with so many ways of getting around as you said the manhunt's got to be much much more difficult. And what we saw in Tel Aviv the other week they sent out a thousand police officers, soldiers in a matter of minutes if not an hour and so this mass mobilization is not something that New York is accustomed to right and so as the longer the manhunt continues it is suspected that the harder it will be to find the suspect. Yeah having said that this is a time 2022 where cameras are everywhere and social media is everywhere presumably some kind of proper footage will be emerging as well very shortly it's very different in this day and age trying to track down what might be one attacker potentially more. Yeah absolutely right so we'll get more footage from the scene potentially more footage of the person who did this and maybe that will help catch him assuming it's a man but as Ariel said and absolutely right in the city like New York and a place like Brooklyn so vast so diverse so big just in terms of how big the urban space is much larger than a place like Tel Aviv even and as Ariel correctly said that one would imagine that the New York Police Department for all of its evident professionalism they're not going to be able to mobilize as quickly and on the kind of scale that can be done in Israel given the security situation that's become sadly part of our routine here. Right and one more point the fact that this man was seen with a gas mask means that this was probably premeditated and so perhaps also escape route some plans after the fact also could be in play here and so these these next few minutes and hours are critical for local law enforcement to try and apprehend the suspect who as we said at the moment is still at large. Ariel Owens stay with us if you are just joining us right now it's breaking news out of New York several people have been shot in a Brooklyn subway station and several undetonated devices have been found nearby initial reports suggesting at least 13 people have been shot by a man wearing a gas mask and an orange construction vest he has fled the scene several law enforcement sources saying the shooter may have thrown a device before opening fire at the 36th street and fourth avenue station in Sunset Park at around 8 30 a.m local time that's peak morning rush hour well we're taking a very short break but our breaking news edition comes back in just two minutes with all the latest developments back in a bit stay tuned don't go anywhere this is breaking news edition i24 news what if you could be part of the most important trending conversation what is happening now right around the globe what divides us what unites us us take you on an adventure through it all join the global conversation every night here on global eye breaking news again but there's always more to the story especially here in the middle east what's really going on in the region well unless you're actually here you can't really tell join us here at the fitting heart of the new middle east to get a true perspective on what's really going on imagine being able to see into the future what innovations will change the world as we know it join us as we meet the people changing our planet and discover the inventions shaping tomorrow israel business beat sundays and wednesdays 9 30 p.m gmt the biggest tech and startup event in europe follow international conferences with world-renowned speakers boost your business and generate 25 percent of your annual leads in just four days discover the latest technological innovations with positive impacts for businesses the environment and for society let's meet in paris in june breaking news edition continues i'm venice levine and it's breaking news out of new york several people have been shot in a brooklyn subway station and several undetonated devices have been found nearby initial reports suggesting at least 13 people have been shot by a man wearing a gas mask and an orange construction vest he has fled the scene a manhunt is underway several law enforcement sources saying the shooter may have thrown a device before opening fire at the 36th street and fourth avenue station in sunset park around 8 30 a.m local time the new york police department warning new yorkers to avoid the area and to expect emergency vehicles and delays local schools have been placed on lockdown for more reaction now we go live to manhattan we welcome eric mandel the founder and director at the middle east political information network and senior editor for security at the jerusalem report thank you so much for your time your initial reaction when you heard about this shooting and the situation unfolding right now during peak our traffic in brooklyn well i think the first thing people who are international listeners listeners need to know is that there's been a crime spree in new york before this from march statistics over 70 percent of increasing crime year over year in the subway system even with the mayor at our new mayor adams increasing the police force this you know ever since the original riots that occurred in the after the blm movement and after the george floyd killings the city has felt much less safe that may or may not be directly related to this incident i mean the question here for this incident is is this domestic is this a lone gunman and you know it's funny these things are ringing in my ears as i think about what goes on in israel right now you know regarding the terrorism that has raged during ramadan there does this have anything to do with a political agenda is this is obviously terror 13 people were killed there's possibly detonate undetonated devices one may have been thrown during this time and so was this a person who was mentally ill there's a huge mental ill mental illness crisis going on in new york on people on the streets many major cities are dealing with that was it somebody with a domestic agenda was it something international we've been blessed in new york and really the united states not having terrorism on our shores in the post 9 11 years and i live through the 9 11 years here and i saw it happening in real time 20 years ago we've been blessed because we kept the fight over there and so even if this turns out to be a domestic terror incident we have to remember that now that america has withdrawn back within its shores if they there are definitely if not this one but they were definitely going to be international actors that are looking and be able to plan terror attacks in the united states because we are not there and we have no more human intelligence except for what we get from the israelis which is indispensable eric i just want to clarify something that you said a little bit earlier it is 13 people shot and wounded that is the latest information we are getting we are getting updates as the situation unfolds at this juncture 13 people shot and wounded again this is an unfolding situation but i want to pick up on something you alluded to how different the situation is between new york and what israelis have been experiencing in recent weeks give us an idea of a search right now in brooklyn we are looking at images on our screen as we speak for now the understanding is it is one attacker but it's not clear if other people were potentially helping him give us an idea in rush hour who is involved in trying to track down this person what kind of institutions and authorities are involved in tracking down the man behind this attack right now as we speak well you have millions of people go down every day in new york down into the subway system which is a miracle and of itself that you have people from about 150 different countries and backgrounds go down into the subways and come out and basically 99.9% of them don't attack or fight with one another so that in itself was always a amazing thing about new york this person as i read was a five foot five person who was described as a black male dressed in what they believed was either construction or mta vests so he looked like he was somebody who belonged that was there and then if you're dealing as i said with millions of people on the subways and and you know new york is just you could just picture the amount of people and especially after an incident the chaos it would be rather easy for somebody to disappear after something like this is going on because people are in a panic and new yorkers are not used to this israelis are unfortunately israelis when you have incidents whether they're in televieve or in hadera or vsheva or at state road or whatever it is if you have lone gunmen or orchestrated attacks people have been used to it and know how to respond how to train where to go for safety and shelter there really has not been people on god in new york because of the increased crime but nobody's thinking about terror attacks but there have been a lot of situations recently of mentally ill people being mentally people pushing people in front of subway cars that's been a one of the horrors that's been going on but but again in new york there is this because of changes of the laws people feel less fear about being prosecuted for pretty much any kinds of crimes so all types of crimes in new york have gone up but this seems way beyond that this is terror and so you know when you're doing a manhunt in brooklyn i grew up in brooklyn brooklyn in it of in of itself is the fourth largest city in the united states you know so it is a very crowded place it's a place you could hide if you know what's there so who's involved in this is going to be the new york city police i'm sure the fbi will get involved because they're going to want to make sure that this is not international terror you have the uh the fire department's involved and all their emergency services and remember you have all the uh groups that have to now take um these people triage them and bring them to hospitals unfortunately i remember these type of incidents in the beginning being in israel in the second in tevada what was going on um and how you know what goes on obviously new york has a superb medical system but you know mass casualty events like this um nobody knows and the question is what is the repercussions of this for new york and for the united states um obviously the innocence is gone for new york um uh once you have an attack like this um but what will happen to new york today will we close down the subway system will just be local what about schools certainly schools around there have closed down um but you know and will people i know i know of people personally who have chosen because of the crime not to go into the subways um and so certainly this is going to make it even worse fortunately a lot of people have still working remotely in the post-covid pandemic world right and it's interesting that you say you grew up in that part of the world i imagine it's not often that you hear local schools have been placed on lockdown it's something that is unfolding as we speak right now talk to us a bit more eric about the gun control laws in the united states a hot button issue we know this but specifically in new york talk to us about what an incident like this means given as we have been outlining that it's not clear exactly whether or not this is a domestic issue or what is at play but tell us anyway about gun control laws in new york as we speak people you know who go into the political corners and say um this is all because we have um we have a second amendment that says everybody has a right to bear arms and there are too many guns well there are certainly too many guns but most of those guns are unregistered um there's literally hundreds of thousands of guns that are unregistered the problem here is that uh if it's it's it's the yes there are guns out there and we'd like to get guns off the street but guns aren't the thing that are killing people it's people who feel that they um can use guns and get away with it or don't fear the law right in new york we have a prosecutor a district attorney who is not prosecuting people even for um uh if the if as long as they don't discharge a gun um they're basically getting off there are no um uh quality of life crimes that are being prosecuted many shoplifters are not being prosecuted it's the whole mentality is that if you're a criminal you can get away with things and you're gonna have a turnstile you might be arrested but you're gonna come out very quickly but these you know in in america people would like gun control to a certain extent but not you know it's not the rat it's not on one side unlimited amount of guns and it's not the other side that says nobody should have a gun um what we'd like to do is get un it's get unregistered guns off the streets but the key here is still gonna be um you know dealing with the criminals you know the guns aren't the things that pull the triggers it's the uh it's the criminals until you get a handle on that the guns if you will there's secondary issue but the politics of it is is going to blur all of that eric mandel speaking to us live from manhattan thank you so much for your insight we really appreciate your time on this day during this breaking news edition thank you now we bring in a journalist elbert louerton and he joins us from new york let's find out elbert what you can tell us what is unfolding on the ground what is the latest update sure the latest update is that a gentleman somehow uh just after 8 30 this morning this is the height of rush hour that someone a gentleman uh about five foot five 165 centimeters uh 80 kilograms uh apparently through some sort of device a smoke bomb of some sort at a subway stop this is now a congested subway stop in rush hour in rush hour morning rush hour um and when the device detonated a smoke bomb detonated shots rang out there were 13 people shot um right now that that's the number that the nypd has been released at least 13 injured most of them have been shot they've been sent to area hospitals they were in uh all various stages of uh injury there's there at least three or four that are in critical condition right now in the hospitals there's a hospital nearby i haven't you have been in the subway station that subway station about about a month ago i could tell you it is a very congested subway station it's the nexus of three lines here in new york city uh one of those lines uh it goes through borough park if anyone's familiar with the new york area uh these subway lines in the middle of rush hour were packed of of commuters it's a normal tuesday morning uh and this gentleman apparently wearing an orange vest a construction vest and gas mask over his face lobbed this kind of device in the subway station uh they are conducting a thorough search i mean you could see it here in the video you're watching now this is live pictures coming in from brooklyn these are nypd counterterrorist unit the fbi has been involved as well in this situation they are scaring the subway tunnels because now this subway station as i mentioned i was there about a month ago there's only one entrance in and out of the subway station up the steps out the back of the station um and so right now there's not really that much not much place that someone with a construction vest through a gas mask uh is able to escape to so they're scaring the subways as you see the dogs they'll be scaring the subway tunnels underneath fourth avenue which is a major thoroughfare in brooklyn uh and this is the latest from here so elbert we appreciate that this is obviously a developing situation we know this man hunters underway as we speak but any indication at this stage if this gentleman as you very generously call him was working alone or not what is the latest out of new york what are you hearing so the latest now is that it's just one person i mean this is what when you talk to some officials in the the former officials i spoke i just got the phone with someone at the new york state who was at the new york city transit authority they um they're largest i say the biggest situation they have and the fear that they have is that it's a lone wolf situation outside the central business district i mean that's what they they prepare for everything in the new york city transit system nypd jttf which is joint terrorism task force they prepare for all these kind of things but a lone wolf is an issue that they are concerned with the most and as of now that's what it looks like has happened and as we all know too well it's very difficult to track down often a lone wolf but we appreciate your insight we will be coming back to you if i may oh i was going to say i would if it may here's i think they're scouring video 90 percent of what the nypd says that 90 percent of the major terrorist incidents that occur in new york city get solved by scouring video so they're doing that right now elbert we're going to be coming back to you about exactly that right now though we are taking a very quick break elbert louis and live from new york but our coverage on breaking news edition continues in just a few moments don't go anywhere breaking news out of new york several people have been shot in a brooklyn subway back in a bit stay tuned seman in espanol the i-24 news into i-24 news anywhere anytime for free i-24 news radio is the audio live stream of the television network with world headlines every 30 minutes starting from 7 a.m. tune in for top news magazines editions while in the car in your office join us from your smartphone tablet or desktop to stay connected in the middle east and around the world don't wait any longer head to our website or mobile application and click on i-24 news radio to subscribe this is breaking news edition out of new york several people have been shot in a brooklyn subway station and several undetonated devices have been found nearby initial reports suggesting that at least 13 people have been hurt by a man wearing a gas mask and an orange construction vest he has fled the scene and a manhunt is underway several law enforcement sources saying the shooter may have thrown a device before opening fire at the 36th street and fourth avenue station in sunset park around 8 30 a.m local time the new york police department warning new yorkers to avoid the area and to expect emergency vehicle and delays local schools have been placed on lockdown so for the latest let's go back to journalist elbert lewitton and he joins us from new york elbert what is the latest what update can you give us right now so the only update they can give you right now is that they're looking at neighboring subway stations to see whether or not that this perpetrator may have fled from the neighboring subway stations there's a this is this incident occurred on 36th street and fourth avenue on the subway they are now looking up a little bit north it was a northbound subway subway train that where it occurred so they think that the person may have jumped onto the train and gone on to the next stop which is 25th street so they're scouring that area as well they it's a it's a again this happened in the middle of morning rush hour so i'm so i if the if the gentleman did jump onto the train and got out of the next stop they will be able to try to track him down through video video is a very important situation here especially since 9 11 90 percent of those that those crimes that occurred such as the chelsea bombing that occurred back i would say that was 2017 the subway bombing of december 2017 there all the perpetrators were caught by video so they'll be looking at that right now you can't miss somebody with a gas mask and a construction vest and so that is the latest right now they are still looking for this gentleman he's being described as a five foot 165 centimeters 180 pounds which is about 80 80 kilograms again wearing an orange vest and a gas mask they're not sure whether or not that this gentleman may be a worker within the subway system or whether it's something that you can just go out and purchase an orange vest construction vest that that's been described as you can see here that in this live picture coming in from brooklyn there are thousands of police officers scouring the area the entire area since the park has been shut down something that they have also been looking at and this is where the joint terrorism task force gets into play is that whether or not this is an i mean this sounds has all the earmarks of a of a of a targeted attack as opposed to a spree attack and with by that i mean that they pick a certain spot a certain location this subway stop happens to be uh the the junction of three subway lines the d the r the n and the r uh the detrain something some our israeli viewers will now uh go through borough park uh right now this area of sunset park where this occurred uh is mostly latino uh there is an hour contingent that's a little bit south in bay ridge so all of that is going to be taken into play when the jgtf looks into this and as you say in an era where cameras exist where social media is rampant no doubt that will also help authorities in tracking down the person behind this shooting elbert louison a journalist speaking to us live from new york we appreciate your update thank you so much on this breaking news edition right now we turn our attention back to developments here in the middle east moving on to news in this part of the world a policeman has been likely wounded in a stabbing attack in the southern city of ashkelon on tuesday morning the 40-year-old palestinian attacker was shot dead he was from hebron in the west bank meanwhile the israeli military continues to conduct raids in the west bank focusing on