The state agency that monitors the MTA is working to determine why a Brooklyn subway station’s cameras were not fully functioning during a mass shooting earlier this month. 

More than two dozen people were injured, including 10 who suffered gunshot wounds, when a gunman opened fire on a train as it pulled into the 36th Street station in Sunset Park during the morning rush hour on April 12, authorities said. 

On Monday, Acting MTA Inspector General Elizabeth Keating said the Office of the MTA Inspector General had “initiated an inquiry into why the cameras were not transmitting on April 12,” as well as “a review of the maintenance and repair program for the critical equipment.” 


What You Need To Know

  • The Office of the MTA Inspector General has launched a probe to determine why cameras inside the 36th Street station in Brooklyn were not fully functioning during a mass shooting earlier this month

  • More than two dozen people were injured when a gunman opened fire on a train as it pulled into the station in Sunset Park during the morning rush hour on April 12

  • Cameras inside that station and two adjacent stations "were not functioning due to internet connection," members of Congress wrote in a letter addressed to the MTA last week

  • NYC Transit Interim President Craig Cipriano said the MTA “worked intensely with the police” after the shooting providing “36 separate video perspectives” from the subway system

“The work will encompass relevant allegations and concerns that are within the scope of the OIG’s jurisdiction as the independent agency statutorily charged with MTA oversight,” Keating said in a statement. 

“Consistent with OIG policy, we will not comment further on the review until it is completed and released publicly through our normal process,” Keating added. 

Keating’s announcement came days after members of Congress sent a letter to the MTA asking the agency to answer several questions about its subway camera system. 

Cameras inside the 36th Street subway station and two adjacent stations “were not functioning due to internet connection,” the politicians wrote. 

“Given the disturbing and continued rise of subway attacks this year, we write to urge you to be more transparent regarding how your agency utilizes Federal funding to secure the subway system and protect riders,” they added. 

Asked to comment on the Inspector General’s probe, the MTA referred to remarks NYC Transit Interim President Craig Cipriano made at a board meeting on Monday. 

The MTA “worked intensely with the police” after the shooting, Cipriano said, providing “36 separate video perspectives” from the subway system that included “several images of the suspect getting on the train, getting off the train and riding a bus.”

“We got a camera in every station, and we got there in just a few short years. It cost us hundreds of millions of dollars to do so, but we did it. And our camera failure rate is just about 1%,” he said. 

“We field many requests for video at the MTA from the NYPD every day that leads to the arrest and identification of hundreds of suspects, and I’m very pleased with that camera program,” he added. “It’s one of the most comprehensive camera coverages in our region.”