On Tuesday, April 12th at roughly 8:30 a.m., multiple shots were fired at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Many students commuting to Tech were caught in the commotion, as the D, N, and R trains primarily used by Brooklyn and Manhattan residents operate at this station. The suspect wore a gas mask and orange construction vest as he shot into the crowd, injuring 29 citizens. While the suspect remained at large for approximately 24 hours, he was brought into custody by the NYPD the following day. 

The Survey interviewed two students who were at the 36th Street station at the time of the event. 

John Butsikares (‘25) was on his way to school when the shooting occurred. “At first, I didn’t know what was going on… The R rode to 25th street when everyone was told to evacuate,” he said. Butsikares expressed feeling confused at the time and unaware of a threat, stating, “The conductor was asking people for medical assistance. I still didn’t know of a shooting and I thought that maybe someone got hit by a train.” After evacuating the train, his “confusion turned into nervousness,” as he realized that “it may have involved a shooting” and what had just happened was “a lot worse than it seemed.”

Ashley Wong (‘23) was also at the station moments after the crime took place. Wong was departing from her home station when she was met with crowds of people, police officers, and ambulances. “I didn’t know anything about the incident until people started texting me about it. It hit me all at once since it was so unexpected,” she expressed. Shaken by the events of her morning, Wong said, “It was definitely scary that such a terrible crime was close to where I lived and the neighborhood I had grown up in.” This sentiment reflected the shock faced by many Sunset Park residents in response to the attack. 

The response from leadership in Brooklyn Tech was a wave of support from Principal Newman and teachers, providing reassurance to students affected by the incident and offering suggestions for staying safe for their commute home.

The Sunset Park Shooting is just one incident in a string of recent crimes affecting the Tech community. Just one day following the Sunset Park shooting, a teenager was shot near Atlantic Terminal, less than a half-mile from Tech. A week later, during spring break, Brooklyn Tech received a shooting threat from a student, later found to be a UK-based troll posing as a student, which prompted an NYPD-led security check when returning to school on Monday, April 25th. With the recent spike in crime, Brooklyn Tech staff has been vigilant about communicating with students and rendering school safety their top priority.