One of the 10 straphangers shot in the Brooklyn subway attack earlier this month said in a new interview that he has since lost his job and is unable to walk due to his injuries.
Kareem Aly, 40, who was released from the hospital Tuesday, shared the agonizing update in an interview with WABC-TV where he also detailed the harrowing moments he was shot twice aboard the N train at 36th Street station on April 12.
Aly remembered how the suspected shooter, Frank James, 62, first set off smoke canisters on the train before opening fire.
“A lot of smoke, smoke, smoke,” he told the news outlet. “What happened? In my mind, there’s a fire in the car.”
As Aly moved away from the smoke, he was stuck in the leg by a bullet, he told the station.
“I hear a shotgun, tock, tock, tock, like that,” he reportedly said. “He shot me again.”
Aly was pictured on footage of the scene hobbling out of the car and collapsing on the platform. Doctors inserted a titanium rod and screws in his leg, and performed skin graft surgery, the local station said.
“I see my left, this area, is separate from the ankle,” he said, showing the affiliate his wounds. “I can’t walk, and I can’t stand up.”
“The pain is over 1,000.”
In addition to his mental and physical trauma, Aly told the station he was without insurance and could not afford rehab.
“I lost everything. My job, my work, I lost everything. I don’t have any activities to do. I don’t have health insurance to do something. You see, I’m home alone,” he reportedly said, explaining that his family is in Egypt.
“I lost everything, everything. I lost everything.”
Nine other people were shot and an additional 19 were injured by the lone shooter, authorities said.
James faces federal terrorism charges that would imprison him for life if convicted.
