A 36-year-old man was in critical but stable condition Friday morning after he was shot in the head aboard a northbound A train as it pulled into the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station in downtown Brooklyn during Thursday evening’s evening rush hour, according to reports the authorities. .

The shooting was the culmination of a terrifying confrontation on a crowded subway train in which an armed man who had threatened another passenger was ultimately shot with his own gun, police said.

The two men did not know each other, police say, and it is not clear how their confrontation began. But the video of the episode, which captures the moments leading up to the shooting, shows the eventual shooting victim, identified by authorities as a 36-year-old man, shouting threats and racial slurs at the other man, 32.

Officials have not released the names of either man. A search was also underway Friday morning for a woman who appeared to have stabbed the older man.

In the video, the 36-year-old man stands over the 32-year-old, walks back and forth in front of him and repeatedly threatens him, saying, “I will beat you up.” Eventually the 32 year old man gets up and they face each other to fight.

The older man wrestles the younger man into a chair, stands over him and punches him. At that moment, a woman rushes forward and appears to stab the older man in the lower back. It is not clear whether the woman knew the younger man before the encounter.

The older man, with blood seeping through his white T-shirt, pulls a gun from his jacket and confronts both the younger man and woman, who head to the end of the subway.

As other panicked drivers run to the other side of the car, the video cuts away from the melee. Gunshots and screams can be heard.

At a news conference Thursday evening, Michael Kemper, the chief of the police department’s transit division, said the younger man ripped the older man’s gun and shot him four times. The younger man was taken into custody but has not yet been arrested.

Chief Kemper said Thursday that authorities had not yet decided whether to charge the 32-year-old or whether his actions would be considered self-defense. As of Friday morning, the man had still not been charged.

A spokesperson for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said Friday that prosecutors are reviewing the evidence.

In an interview with NY1 on Friday morning, Janno Lieber, the chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that manages public transportation, called the episode “harrowing.”

“If you’re in that situation, in a subway car and something bad is going on and you’re running for your own safety, that’s just the nightmare for all of us at the MTA,” he said. “That’s a nightmare for New Yorkers.”

The shooting at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, which is served by the A, C and G trains, occurred a week after Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed hundreds of National Guard members and state troopers to check bags on the subway system. attempt to deter crime and allay riders’ fears. The altercation also came amid growing complaints that the MTA has not done enough to ensure worker safety.

A series of violent episodes in recent years has left some participants in the system on edge.

In 2022, Michelle Alyssa Go was on a subway platform in Times Square when a 61-year-old man pushed her from behind, pushing her to her death in front of a southbound train. Months later, there was a mass shooting on the R train in Brooklyn. More recently, a 45-year-old crossing guard was fatally shot on a Brooklyn train in January after intervening in a fight, and a 35-year-old man was killed and five other people were injured after a fight broke out among teenagers. on a train in the Bronx last month.

In response, officials introduced several anti-crime initiatives in the metros, including adding more police officers and increasing overtime for them, and began removing seriously mentally ill homeless people from the system.

MTA surveys consistently show that some riders view the subway as dangerous, even if the data doesn’t necessarily support that view.

On a post on X Thursday eveningNew York City public advocate Jumaane Williams said he had seen videos of the “terrifying moments” for straphangers and implored Governor Hochul to do more about subway safety.

Chief Kemper said officers at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station, where a police station is located, heard gunshots when the train arrived there Thursday and responded immediately.

Another video posted on X, appears to show the moments when officers respond and find the younger man on his stomach on the stairs near the open subway. As he is led away from the scene in handcuffs, the 36-year-old man can be seen lying on his back through the windows of the subway and appearing to move his head ever so slightly as officers begin to tend to him.

Moments later, the 36-year-old lies on his side and looks at the window, the red mark visible on his back, as officers in white gloves examine him.

Senegal's parliament voted late on Monday to postpone elections until December after opposition lawmakers who wanted to block the vote were expelled from the National Assembly. The vote came after President Macky Sall postponed the upcoming vote last week, a move critics condemned as an “institutional coup.”

Voters had been preparing to go to the polls on February 25 until Mr Sall – who has said he would not seek a third term – announced on Saturday that he was postponing the election. Experts and many opposition and civil society leaders called it a power grab by an unpopular president who is not confident his chosen successor would win.

But on Monday night, police officers wearing helmets and body armor ejected opposition members from the National Assembly, preventing them from voting after a marathon session debating the legality of Mr Sall's move. The bill subsequently passed by a vote of 105 to 1. In fact, Mr Sall will remain in office until the election is held on December 15, almost ten months after his presidency would have ended.

Anticipating an outbreak of protest, the government cut off internet access to mobile phones on Monday morning, banned motorcycles in the capital Dakar and sent hundreds of security forces onto the streets in a show of force. The large public protests expected for Monday afternoon never materialized; The streets of Dakar emptied as many residents chose to stay indoors.

Then Mr. Sall announced that he was postponing the electionshe said in his address to the nation that a dispute between the national assembly and the constitutional court had to be resolved before a vote could take place, but critics dismissed this as a “manufactured crisis.”

Isolated protests broke out across Dakar on Sunday but were quickly put down by security forces who used tear gas and arrested several demonstrators, including former Prime Minister Aminata Touré.

Military coups have toppled governments in several West African countries in recent years, while in others presidents have changed the constitution, jailed opponents and curtailed civil liberties in efforts to stay in power.

But Senegal, a country long considered an island of stability in West Africa, has a culture of respect for democracy and the law. Past attempts to manipulate the electoral system or block opposition candidates have often been met with resistance, especially among the country's youth.

On Sunday evening and Monday morning it looked like they were getting ready to come out in large numbers.

Protesters burned tires in the streets; security forces fired tear gas and arrested several lawmakers; and when children arrived at some schools in Dakar on Monday, they were turned away. Classes were cancelled.

Military police were stationed at roundabouts in Dakar, on main roads and at some French businesses attacked in previous demonstrations, including Total gas stations and Auchan supermarkets. Young people in Senegal, as in many former French colonies in Africa, often accuse France of pulling political strings and supporting the government.

The bill to extend Mr Sall's stay at the presidential palace was passed around 10pm on Monday, after opposition lawmakers occupied the stage in an attempt to block the vote. The elections were expected to be postponed until August, but Parliament postponed them until December to avoid them coinciding with the rainy season and a major annual pilgrimage in August, according to a lawmaker from Mr Sall's party who has assisted in drafting the bill. An opposition party joined the governing coalition to push through the bill.

The person who posed perhaps the biggest challenge, Ousmane Sonko, a relatively young politician popular for his rhetoric lambasting Senegalese elites and French neo-colonialism, has been in prison for months. He was convicted of corrupting a minor, defamation and incitement to rebellion, but was acquitted of rape. Rights groups say dozens of people have been killed and hundreds more injured in protests in support of him.

Mr. Sonko's allies in the National Assembly took to the floor on Monday evening, wearing sashes in the colors of the Senegalese flag, chanting: “Macky, resign.”

Nogaye Faye, a primary school teacher in Dakar, said Mr Sall had no respect for the Senegalese people. “He could have left with a lot of respect,” she said. “This is a shame for our democracy.”

Others said politicians are not worth risking their lives and livelihoods by protesting.

“We fought for Macky Sall in 2012,” said Ahmed Thiam, a baker, referring to the youth movement that brought Mr. Sall to power and prevented his predecessor from seeking a third term.

He said he wouldn't fight this time.

“I'm tired now,” he added. “I have two daughters and a son to feed. I mind my own business.”

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has begun warning Germans to prepare for a decades-long confrontation with Russia — and to quickly rebuild the country's military in case Vladimir V. Putin doesn't plan to stop at the border with Ukraine.

The Russian military, he said in a series of recent interviews with German news media, is fully engaged in Ukraine. But if there is a ceasefire and Russian President Putin still has a few years to reset, he believes the Russian leader will consider testing NATO's unity.

“Nobody knows how or if this will last,” Mr. Pistorius said of the current war, calling for a rapid build-up of the size of Germany's army and replenishing its arsenal.

Mr Pistorius' public warnings reflect a significant shift at the highest levels of leadership in a country that has eschewed a strong military since the end of the Cold War. The alarm is growing louder, but the German public is still not convinced that the security of Germany and Europe is fundamentally threatened by a newly aggressive Russia.

The post of Minister of Defense in Germany is often a political dead end. But Pistorius' status as one of the country's most popular politicians has given him a freedom of speech that others — including his boss, Chancellor Olaf Scholz — do not enjoy.

As Mr. Scholz prepares to meet President Biden at the White House on Friday, many in the German government say there is no question of a return to normal with Mr. Putin's Russia, that they expect little progress in Ukraine for years and that they fear the consequences if Mr Putin gains the upper hand there.

Those fears are now mixed with discussions about what will happen to NATO if former President Donald J. Trump is elected and given a second chance to act on his instincts to pull the United States from the alliance.

The prospect of a re-elected Mr. Trump has German officials and many of their fellow NATO colleagues informally discussing whether the nearly 75-year-old alliance structure they plan to celebrate in Washington this year can survive without the United States at the center. . Many German officials say Putin's best strategic hope is to break NATO.

It is an astonishing change of thinking, especially for the Germans. Just a year ago, NATO was celebrating a new sense of purpose and unity, and many confidently predicted that Mr Putin was on the run.

But now, with an unreliable America, an aggressive Russia and an aspiring China, as well as a seemingly stalled war in Ukraine and a deeply unpopular conflict in Gaza, German officials are starting to talk about the emergence of a new, complicated and disturbing world. , with serious consequences for European and transatlantic security.

Their immediate concern is growing pessimism that the United States will continue to fund Ukraine's struggle, just as Germany, the second-largest contributor, has pledged to double its contribution this year to about $8.5 billion.

Now some of Mr Pistorius's colleagues are warning that if US funding dries up and Russia gains the upper hand, the next target will be closer to Berlin.

“If Ukraine were forced to surrender, it would not satisfy Russia's thirst for power,” German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl said last week. “If the West does not show a clear willingness to defend, Putin will have no reason to stop attacking NATO.”

But when pressed about a possible conflict with Russia, or about the future of NATO, German politicians speak cautiously.

In the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, most Germans have become accustomed to the idea that the country's security would be assured if it worked with Russia, not against it, and that China is a necessary partner with a crucial market for German cars and equipment. .

Even today, Mr. Scholz, a Social Democrat whose party has traditionally sought decent ties with Moscow, appears reluctant to discuss the much more confrontational future with Russia or China that Germany's defense and intelligence chiefs describe so vividly.

With the exception of Mr. Pistorius, who was little known before he was picked to lead the Defense Ministry a year ago, few politicians will raise the issue publicly. Mr. Scholz is extremely cautious, mindful of Germany's relationship with the United States and wary of putting too much pressure on Russia and its unpredictable president.

Two years ago, he proclaimed a new era for Germany – a “Zeitenwende,” or historic turning point in German security policy, an era he said would be marked by a significant shift in spending and strategic thinking. He made good on his promise to allocate an additional 100 billion euros for military spending over four years.

This year, for the first time, Germany will spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on the military, reaching the target that all NATO countries agreed to in 2014 after Russia's annexation of Crimea, but which most experts now say is too late. is low. . And Germany has committed to strengthening NATO's eastern flank against Russia by pledging to permanently station a brigade in Lithuania by 2027.

But in other ways, Mr. Scholz has proceeded with great caution. He has – along with Mr Biden – resisted setting a timetable for Ukraine's eventual entry into the alliance.

The most striking example of his caution is his continued refusal to supply Ukraine with an air-launched cruise missile called the Taurus.

Last year, Britain and France gave Ukraine their closest equivalent, the Storm Shadow/SCALP, and it has been used to destroy Russian ships in ports in Crimea – and to force Russia to withdraw its fleet. Mr. Biden reluctantly agreed to deliver ATACMS, a similar missile but with a range of about 100 miles, to Ukraine in the fall.

The Taurus has a range of more than 300 miles, meaning Ukraine could use it to invade deep into Russia. And Mr Scholz is not prepared to take that risk – and neither is the country's Bundestag, which voted against a resolution calling for the transfer. Although the decision seems to fit German opinion, Mr Scholz wants to avoid the subject.

But if he remains reluctant to press Putin too hard, it is a warning that Germans share.

Polls show that Germans want to see a more capable German army. But only 38 percent of those surveyed said they wanted their country to be more involved in international crises, the lowest figure since the question was asked in 2017, according to the Körber Foundation, which conducted the survey. Of that group, 76 percent said the involvement should be mainly diplomatic, and 71 percent were against a military leadership role for Germany in Europe.

German military officials recently caused a minor outrage when they suggested that the country must be ready for “kriegstüchtig,” which roughly translates to the ability to fight and win a war.

Norbert Röttgen, an opposition lawmaker and foreign policy expert with the Christian Democrats, said the term was considered “rhetorically exaggerated” and was quickly dropped.

“Scholz always said that 'Ukraine should not lose, but Russia should not win', which indicated that he always thought about a standoff that would lead to a diplomatic process,” Mr. Röttgen said. “He considers Russia more important than all the countries between us and them, and he misses a European feeling and his possible role as European leader.”

Mr. Röttgen and other critics of Mr. Scholz think he is losing a historic opportunity to lead the creation of a European defense capability that is far less dependent on the U.S. military and nuclear deterrent.

But Scholz is clearly most comfortable relying heavily on Washington, and senior German officials say he is particularly distrustful of Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, who has advocated European “strategic autonomy.” Mr Macron has found few followers on the continent.

Even Mr. Scholz's main European defense initiative, a coordinated ground-based air defense against ballistic missiles known as Sky Shield, relies on a mix of American, American-Israeli and German missile systems. That has angered the French, Italians, Spaniards and Poles, who did not join, arguing that an Italo-French system should have been used.

Mr Scholz's ambitions are also hampered by his increasingly weak economy. Last year the economy shrank by 0.3 percent, and roughly the same is expected in 2024. The costs of the war in Ukraine and China's economic problems – which have hit the auto and manufacturing sectors hardest – have exacerbated the problem.

While Mr. Scholz acknowledges that the world has changed, “he is not saying that we should change with it,” said Ulrich Speck, a German analyst.

“He says the world has changed and we will protect you,” Mr Speck said.

But that may require much more military spending – more than 3 percent of Germany's gross domestic product. For now, few in Mr. Scholz's party dare to suggest going that far.

Germans, and even social democrats, “have come to realize that Germany lives in the real world and that hard power matters,” said Charles A. Kupchan, a Europe expert at Georgetown University.

“At the same time,” he said, “there is still the hope that this is all just a bad dream, and that the Germans will wake up and be back in the old world.”