MS-13 Linked To Deadly Subway Shooting, Police Say

JACKSON HEIGHTS, QUEENS — A man was shot to death Sunday in a Jackson Heights subway station after a fight that started on a train spilled out onto the platform, an NYPD spokesman said.

Officers arrived at the 90th Street and Elmhurst Avenue 7 train station around 12:45 p.m to find Abel Mosso, 20, suffering a gunshot wound to the head, police said. EMS pronounced the man dead at the scene, police said.

Ramiro Gutierrez, 26, was arrested Monday and charged with murder and gang assault. Police said he is a member of the notorious street gang MS-13 and the victim was a member of rival 18th Street Gang.

Police released photos of two other men they want to talk to in connection with the killing. Both are between 30 and 35-years-old. The first was wearing a dark colored hat, a red scarf and white sneakers.

The second was slim and was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, black pants and black sneakers.

Witnesses of the fight posted a graphic video to social media that showed the victim struggling with three other men on the subway platform. During the fight, one of the men produces what appears to be a revolver and opens fire when the victim lunges at the weapon.

Six shots are heard in quick succession as subway passengers scream and run from the gunfire, according to the eyewitness video.

"I was thinking at first they were fighting like they were drunken people," Bidur Bista, who took the video, told the New York Times. "Once the guy started shooting, I was scared."

The fight began on a Manhattan-bound 7 train and spilled onto the platform when the train pulled into the station, police said. Investigators do not know what started the fight, or whether the victim knew his attackers.

MS-13 has been active in the United States since the 1980s and there are an estimated 10,000 members active in the country, according to a 2017 fact sheet from the United States Department of Justice. ProPublica reporter Hannah Dreier, who has followed the gang's actions in the U.S. since 2017, wrote in June that the U.S. numbers make up a small portion of MS-13's 1.4 million members. The gang has become a target of President Donald Trump and federal law enforcement in recent years.

Disclaimer: Graphic/violent video below.

Pictures via NYPD