1 arrest in Brooklyn fatal straphanger dispute in Borough Hall subway station
Police sought answers Wednesday from a retired correction officer after his dispute with a pair of strangers ended with a fatal shooting that spread panic inside a subway station at the height of the evening rush hour a day earlier.
The former officer, whose name was not made public, shot Gilbert Drogheo at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Borough Hall station in Brooklyn, police said. Investigators took him into custody but later released him without charges after he agreed to meet on Wednesday for more questioning.
The mayhem began when the retired officer, who’s 69 years old, boarded a Brooklyn-bound subway train in Manhattan, police said. He was armed with a small Ruger handgun that he was licensed to carry in public, they said.
According to witnesses, it appeared that the former officer angered Drogheo, 32, and another man by stepping in between them while they were talking, police said. The men and the officer argued before they pushed him down into an empty seat on the train, police said.