Dec. 29, 2023 By Bill Parry
Police are looking for a man who dropped a firearm on an MTA bus in Jamaica earlier this month that caused a bullet to fly that almost hit several passengers.
The suspect was seated on board a Q43 bus in the vicinity of Sutphin Boulevard and Hillside Avenue on the night of Sunday, Dec. 17, when he got up as it neared his stop and his handgun fell out of his pants and hit the floor of the bus, according to a law enforcement source.
The shooting occurred on a Q43 bus. Photo courtesy of the MTA
As the firearm hit the deck it discharged a single shot that missed 10 passengers who were riding on the bus as well as the driver. The suspect ran off the bus in an unknown direction and remains at large nearly two weeks later.
The NYPD released a surveillance image of the gunman on Thursday and described him as having a medium complexion and approximately 50 years old. He was wearing a distinctive white athletic jacket with the numerals “00” over the left chest with brown and blue stripes on the upper sleeves over a yellow hooded sweatshirt.
Anyone with information in regard to this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website, on Twitter @NYPDTips.
Through Dec. 24, the 103rd Precinct has reported 12 shooting incidents so far in 2023, 14 fewer than the 26 reported at the same point last year, a decrease of 53.8%, according to the most recent CompStat report.