EGN NEWS DESK
The conductor of a packed Brooklyn prepare the place an unhinged passenger was shot within the head together with his personal gun throughout a rush-hour assault mentioned he now not feels protected on the job.
Fred Reeves, 58, can’t escape harrowing photographs and sounds from the chaotic conflict between two subway riders whereas he was on the helm of an specific A prepare because it pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn streets station.
“I’m shellshocked,” Reeves, of East Flatbush in Brooklyn, instructed The Post Saturday. “Like, my nerves are simply via the roof.”
Reeves, higher often called rapper “Doc Ice” from legendary Brooklyn hip-hop teams UTFO and Whodini, mentioned he instantly sprang into motion Thursday upon seeing distressed riders because the prepare neared the Hoyt-Schermerhorn streets station.
Panicked passengers began speeding towards Reeves’ automotive, frantically knocking on the door because the battle between Younece Obuad and an unhinged DaJuan Robinson escalated to gunfire.
Gun-toting straphanger Robinson, 36, instigated a combat with Obuad, 32, by wrongly slamming him for being a migrant — earlier than the 2 got here to blows.
A lady, believed to be Obuad’s girlfriend, then stabbed Robinson within the again, video exhibits.
Robinson then bought out his weapon earlier than Obuad wrestled the gun away and shot him 4 instances, leaving him in vital situation.
As terrified riders raced in direction of him and motioned to the emergency brake, Reeves partly opened the hatch, he recalled.
“You know, I’m considering it was a combat, as a result of we now have fights on the trains,” Reeves mentioned. “They wished to drag it, however I used to be like, ‘Don’t pull it, when you pull that valve, we will probably be caught within the station.”
Reeves, who began working as a subway conductor in 2018, instructed riders to stay calm and to not pull the emergency brake since cops could be on the station, he recalled.
“So, I closed the door, and I’m speaking to my supervisors: ‘This is 16-18, apple, Lefferts, 2-7, coming into Hoyt-Schermerhorn, we want police and emergency service,’” Reeves mentioned. “I’m considering it was combat as a result of the individuals flooded my place as a result of it’s in my automotive however not my cab.”
Seconds later, Reeves heard a number of photographs.
The prepare had simply pulled into the station.
“You simply hear, ‘bow, bow, bow,’” he recalled. “And man, I ducked and dipped to the opposite facet. I then opened the doorways and other people flooded out, screaming and crying. And then I look, and I see the man is on the ground.”
Cops responded to the scene with weapons drawn.
A frantic passenger tried to get Reeves to let a younger lady inside his cab in the course of the commotion, however he declined to take action, citing MTA coverage.
“And you may see the worry on their faces,” he mentioned. “I mentioned, ‘I can’t try this.’ So, as soon as I closed the door after which hear the gunshots and see individuals operating and screaming, the very first thing that involves thoughts is that this little lady.
“And I’m like, ‘Wow, what if it was my kids on the prepare?’” Reeves mentioned. “It simply felt like [I was in] a helpless place, the place you couldn’t do nothing for no person. But I bought the prepare within the station, opened up the doorways and let the cops do what they bought to do to maintain these individuals protected.”
Reeves, a married father of six, mentioned he now not feels protected on the job.
“Bullets don’t haven’t any title,” he mentioned. “And this ain’t no bulletproof cab, so I bought to duck down and hope that the particular person will not be capturing anyplace. You don’t know what the scenario is — they might’ve simply been capturing at anyone.”
He tried to remain as little as potential whereas guiding the prepare into the station.
“It’s not a protected place, particularly for a conductor. We’re within the middle of the whole lot,” he mentioned.
Reeves referred to as for extra cops within the subways.
“Maybe if they’d patrol the prepare for the entire period, that may convey much more security to us as conductors, in addition to passengers,” mentioned Reeves, who mentioned he has “religion they’re going to rectify” the hazards.
“When they’re seen, particularly in numbers, individuals assume earlier than they act, even when they could have a weapon,” he mentioned.
He doesn’t know when he’ll be again on the job.
“I’m unsure, as a result of this example reoccurs in my head always,” he mentioned, recalling the lady who wished inside his cab in the course of the harrowing moments. “There’s simply this burning picture of her in my head.”
