NY Subway Rider Who Shot Assailant With His Own Gun Won’t Face Charges

In a welcome departure from a pattern in which self-defenders and intervening good Samaritans are made into criminals, a man who disarmed his assailant on a New York subway train on Thursday and shot him in the head with his own gun isn’t facing any charges, the Brooklyn district attorney’s office has announced.   

“The investigation into this tragic incident is ongoing,” said DA spokesman Oren Yaniv on Friday, “but, at this stage, evidence of self-defense precludes us from filing any criminal charges against the shooter.”

Thursday’s A-train mayhem — which also appears to include a stabbing of the assailant by a third-party — was captured on cell phone video. It shows 36-year-old Dajuan Robinson, a black man, standing and hovering menacingly over seated 32-year-old Younece Obuad, and issuing a stream of threats and racial hatred that spanned minutes… 

 “I’ll beat you up…fuck you…fuck your kind…fuck your race…do something about it…”

The tirade includes verbiage that indicates Robinson was motivated at least in part by anti-migrant bias. “You think you’re gonna beat up cops?” he asked repeatedly. As the New York Post notes, a woman in the video can be heard saying, “He thinks you’re a migrant, he thinks you’re an immigrant,” likely referring to the incident in which a migrant mob attacked two cops in Times Square in January. 

Eventually, Obuad stands up and takes a fighting stance as passengers start moving to another section of the moving subway car. He and Robinson trade blows, before the larger Robinson pins up to a seat. At that point, an unidentified woman appears to stab Robinson in the back…as blood can be seen starting to drench his shirt after she struck his lower back and withdrew. 

After another man breaks the two up and Obuad stands nearby, Robinson yells at him and the female intervener, says “I got you,” and retrieves a gun from his jacket. That sends the passengers — including the helpful videographer — into a panicked flight to the other end of the car. As the train reaches a station, a single shot rings out. After a brief pause — and as terrified riders race through the door — three more shots are heard.  

NEW YORK Subway Fight UPDATED
MUST WATCH IN FULL- 📹 pic.twitter.com/8rDz1vhVGz

— MəanL¡LMə♡₩ (@MeanLILMeoW) March 15, 2024

Police say Obuad disarmed Robinson and shot him in the head with his own gun, a .38-caliber Ruger. He’s now hospitalized in critical but stable condition, having received two stabs to the lower back and shots to the side of his neck, his right temple, and the side of his chest. His eye was ruptured by the temple shot. Police say the two didn’t know each other.

A review of subway system video shows Robinson entered the station without paying. “If you want to keep the system safe, the first thing you have to do is keep bad people out of the system who don’t pay — this is a perfect example to talk about it,’’ NYPD Deputy Inspector Tarik Sheppard said Friday.

#NYShitty🗽💩; The #NYPD released video footage showing Dajuan Robinson, 36, entering the subway without paying his fare at the #NostrandAvenue station on March 14, 2024. He was later involved in a physical altercation on a subway train, during which he was shot multiple times, pic.twitter.com/p5ieRPx13V

— New York Shitty (@NyShittyNews) March 16, 2024

Earlier this month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that 1,000 National Guard troops would be deployed to the subway system. They’ve been used to check bags for weapons — an endeavor that did nothing to prevent Thursday’s violence.

The incident has prompted some to argue for a major crackdown on fare-beaters. In a Post op-ed, Nicole Gelinas harkens back to the 1990s…

Back then, transit-police chief Bill Bratton, to get people used to enforcement after years of laxity, arrested everyone caught beating the fare, even if it was a first offense, and detained the person while checking warrants. 

Meanwhile, Robinson’s estranged wife, Lisa Sweat, says she dumped him last year over his behavior. “The last couple of months, he just got aggressive with me, and I let him go.’’ Cops tell the Post that Robinson was accused of throwing an object at the couple’s television in 2022 when Sweat neglected to say hello upon his entrance. “He gets aggressive when he gets mad. It’s only when he’s drinking,” added Sweat. “That’s the only problem.’’

Now his behavior has given him problems in his lower back, neck, temple, eye and chest. And we’re happy to say the man who disarmed him and inflicted most of those problems is at home where he belongs.