Bay Area transit agencies said they planned to increase security on their rail systems in light of a shooting Tuesday on the New York City subway.
The shooter, who remained at large as of late Tuesday, donned a gas mask on a subway train in Brooklyn around 8:30 a.m. before he released a smoke canister and began shooting into a crowd of people on the train.
At least 10 were injured by the gunfire, with five victims in critical condition, according to first responders in New York City. None of the injuries were believed to be life threatening.
BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez said every uniformed officer in the transit agency’s police force would be deployed across the train system throughout the day, an increased police presence compared to the agency’s standard day-to-day operations.
“Our primary concern obviously is the safety of our riders and our employees, and today we just added a little extra emphasis and put anybody that was in the uniform out into the system,” he said.
Alvarez said that while it can be difficult to stop an attack before it happens, BART does have more than 4,000 working cameras throughout the system and a full-time video recovery team.
Bomb-sniffing dogs deployed
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said in a statement that it would also increase patrols on its light rail trains and at light rail stations.
The VTA also said that a pair of bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol the transit system randomly throughout the week to ensure that riders feel safe.
The VTA added that there are no specific threats to its system and that the increased patrol presence is not a response to a credible threat.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency also said there is no credible threat to its system or other transit systems.
“We are devastated to hear the news and our hearts go out to our transit colleagues in NY and everyone impacted,” Muni said in a statement. “We are working closely with SFPD and monitoring the situation locally.”