Cops ID victim killed by masked gunman in Deadpool-like outfit on Midtown Subway platform

Cops on Sunday identified the man who was fatally shot by a masked gunman on a subway platform in Midtown Manhattan.

Darrel Rodriguez, 26 was gunned down after he was engaged in a dispute on Saturday with his assailant on the northbound E train platform at the Seventh Ave. station at 53rd St. around 12:20 p.m. He was shot once in the chest, cops said.

The gunman, dressed in a red tracksuit with a black vest and a black face mask, carried a backpack and escaped heading north onto Seventh Ave. Cops released photos of the distinctive Deadpool-like outfit in hopes that the community will recognize him.

Medics rushed the mortally wounded Rodriguez to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition, but he could not be saved.

Rodriguez lived in University Heights in the Bronx, cops said.

Investigators are certain it wasn’t a random attack, but at this point don’t know if the men knew each other or simply were strangers who got into an argument, cops said.

As of Oct. 11, there have been six murders in the NYC transit system this year, a 50% increase compared to four murders in the subway for all of last year, police said. In 2024, there were 10 murders in the subway system. According to the NYPD, in terms of overall crime, 2026 so far is the second safest year in the transit system in the last 15 years, excluding the pandemic.

However, through Oct. 11, felony assaults in the subway are up nearly 12% and overall crime in the transit system is up 1.6%.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).