On Monday, police arrested a 26-year-old man whom they identified as a member of MS-13, a violent street gang with roots in El Salvador, in connection with the killing.
The subway has come a long way since the dark days of the 1980s and 1990s when violence was rampant and riders felt constant dread. The system has become very safe, with just one murder on the subway last year compared with 26 in 1990.
But lately, riders are starting to feel less safe on the subway, a belief that is often reinforced by a flood of complaints about the transit system, doled out in real time on social media.
“Violent incidents like the one today will not be tolerated on our trains, or anywhere in New York City,” said Phil Walzak, a police spokesman. “The subway system remains incredibly safe, with approximately one crime for every million riders per day.”
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Data shows crime is heading in the wrong direction. Transit crimes were up 3.8 percent last year, according to police, part of a slight rise since 2014. Still, there were only about 2,500 major crimes — including murders, rapes and robberies — in the system last year, or about seven per day, compared with nearly 17,500 transit crimes in 1990.
Recent concerns about safety have caused subway riders to once again change their behavior. Some do not take the train after a certain hour or allow children and visiting relatives to travel alone. Others switch cars to avoid menacing passengers.
Police insist that the subway is safe and that a few notable incidents captured on social media have skewed perceptions that it is not. Transit Police Chief Edward Delatorre said the rise in transit crimes last year was mainly driven by thefts in Manhattan.
Delatorre said he is posting more officers on parts of the subway to develop relationships with Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers and riders.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.