An Ohio man was arrested Friday afternoon with an AK-47 assault rifle and a gas mask in a Times Square subway station, law enforcement sources said.
The 18-year-old, whose identity was not immediately released, was taken into custody without incident at around 12:30 p.m. on the mezzanine level of the metro station next to the A, C and E lines, the sources said.
Sources say the teenager was sitting and charging his cell phone in the station with the gun next to him in plain sight when uniformed police officers saw him.
Moments earlier, the teenager had taken the firearm from a bag, sources said.
The AK-47 was unloaded, but the teenager had a fully loaded magazine in his backpack, sources said, along with the gas mask.
He told police he thought carrying an unloaded gun with the separately stored ammunition is legal in New York City, a senior police source said.
Authorities took the teen to the NYPD’s Transit District 1 where they questioned him, sources said.
Straps were stunned by the news that someone was armed with an assault weapon in the crowded station.
“Oh my God,” said a train driver Victoria Campos, 36, from New Jersey. “It’s not safe anymore in New York.”
“Maybe they should put a metal detector here when people are walking,” she added.
Additional reporting by Steven Vago