Shooting Leaves One Dead On No. 7 Train Platform

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Three men fought for a gun on the platform at 90th Street-Elmhurst Avenue before one grabbed it and shot a victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Image from cellphone video taken at the scene and posted by Twitter user firenzemike.

Three men fought for a gun on the platform at 90th Street-Elmhurst Avenue before one grabbed it and shot a victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Image from cellphone video taken at the scene and posted by Twitter user firenzemike.

By Jonathan Sperling

A midday shooting left one man dead on a Jackson Heights subway platform, as horrified straphangers scattered at the sound of gunfire Sunday.

The shooting occurred just before 12:45 p.m., after a Manhattan-bound No. 7 train pulled into the 90th Street-Elmhurst Avenue subway station in Jackson Heights, according to the NYPD. Cellphone video shows three men grappling for a gun on the platform before one grabs a the weapon and shoots the victim as he was lunging at the gunman. The victim’s body immediately went limp after the first shot.

The person filming the scene, along with several onlookers, ran at the sound of gunshots. Additional shots can be heard in the background.

Victim Abel Mosso, 20, a resident of 81-31 31st Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police say they believe that the fight began on the train and spilled onto the platform. The NYPD announced they had arrested a “person of interest” in connection with the shooting. Several reports indicate that the suspect, whose name has not yet been released by the NYPD, is a “known member of MS-13.”

NYPD told the Eagle that the suspect’s alleged gang affiliation was not confirmed.

Councilmember Francisco Moya’s office was vandalized with graffiti that said “MS13” on Monday.

“Gang activity is not going to be tolerated here, Moya said in a statement. “The people of this community will not be made to feel afraid in the streets they walk, on the trains they take or in the homes where they live.”

“If intimidation is MS-13’s goal when its members resort to gun violence — as is reportedly the case in Sunday’s fatal shooting of a man on the 90th Street stop on the 7 train — or when they spray paint gang graffiti in our neighborhoods — as they did on my district office this weekend — they will fail in those endeavors,” he continued. “My heart goes out to the family of the man fatally shot in broad daylight on Sunday. Nobody deserves to lose a loved one in such a horrific manner and you have my sincere condolences for your loss.

Manhattan-bound No. 7 trains were significantly delayed immediately following the shooting, as police conducted an investigation. Trains ran express from the Mets-Willets Point station to 74th Street-Broadway.

“This afternoon’s tragic shooting at the 7 train station on 90th Street is a horrific reminder of how much work we need to do to get guns off our streets and how many more resources we need to build the community our youth seeks,” State Sen. Jessica Ramos said in a Twitter statement. “Our hearts are with the deceased’s loved ones.”