An NYPD officer accidentally discharged her service weapon inside a Brooklyn subway station Thursday afternoon, injuring a fellow officer and a female bystander with bullet fragments, authorities said.
The incident unfolded around 4:40 p.m. At the Kingston-Throop Avenue station in Bedford-Stuyvesant, police confirmed. Both officers involved in the episode were placed on modified duty as the department’s Force Investigation Division opened a probe into how the firearm went off in the crowded transit hub.
The officer whose gun discharged, a male colleague, and a 34-year-old woman were all transported to hospitals following the shooting. Police described all three as being in stable condition at the time, and each has since been released from medical care.
The male officer and the civilian bystander were struck by fragments from the single accidental round, according to the NYPD account. Authorities did not specify where on their bodies the two were hit, nor did they release the names of any of the individuals involved.
The Kingston-Throop Avenue station sits along the C train line in a busy section of central Brooklyn. Thursday’s shooting marked another violent episode in a transit system that has seen repeated high-profile incidents involving both crime and police use of force in recent years.
The NYPD’s Force Investigation Division typically examines all firearm discharges involving department members, whether intentional or accidental. That unit will determine whether any departmental guidelines were violated and whether disciplinary action beyond the modified duty assignment is warranted.
Modified duty generally involves restricting an officer to administrative tasks and removing them from street patrol or other active assignments. Both officers remain in that status pending the outcome of the investigation.
The accidental discharge came amid heightened attention to police conduct in New York City subways. Earlier this year, other incidents involving NYPD officers firing weapons in transit stations drew scrutiny from watchdog groups and prompted calls for revised training protocols.
Police did not indicate how long the Force Investigation Division’s review might take. The department also did not say whether body camera footage from the officers involved would be released.
