When Gloria Holloway arrived at her Brownsville apartment on Monday morning, she was shocked to learn that her son was in the hospital because police had shot him at a Brownsville subway station on Sunday afternoon.
“Oh my God,” Holloway told a Gothamist reporter who had arrived at the apartment to ask about the incident. She said she was fresh off her night shift as a security guard.
Holloway picked up an NYPD business card that had been slipped under her apartment door.
“They just shot him, then didn’t bother to get in touch with anybody related to him?” said Holloway, who sometimes uses the first name Renee, as she stood in her living room. “And left a card here at the damn door?”
A spokesperson for the NYPD later said they did not know how Holloway was notified of the incident.
Police shot Holloway’s 37-year-old son, Derell Mickles in the stomach — hitting three other people including a fellow officer, in the chaos — after Mickles skipped his fare and drew a knife on officers who had unsuccessfully tried to tase him, according to NYPD officials. One bystander was struck in the head. Both that bystander and Mickles remained in critical condition on Monday morning.
Another bystander was hit in the leg and an officer discovered a bullet wound near their left armpit in the moments after police opened fire, according to the NYPD. Both of those people were in stable condition on Monday.
Many details of the incident remain unclear.
According to police, the chaos began when Mickles entered the Sutter Avenue L train station through an emergency exit gate. Officers followed him up three flights of stairs to the train platform, where he threatened to kill them if they didn’t stop following him, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey said at a news conference on Sunday, a few hours after the incident.
Police instructed Mickles to take his hands out of his pockets but he refused, Maddrey said. He said Mickles told the officers they would have to shoot him, and then he boarded a train that had just pulled into the station.
Two officers then tried to use Tasers to immobilize Mickles, but the attempts were “ineffective,” according to Maddrey. Mickles then pulled a knife from his pocket, police said.
Mickles carried a pocket knife because he works as a chef at several restaurants around the city, Holloway, his mother, said. She said he lives in Harlem.
Once Mickles pulled the knife, the officers shot him several times — striking the other individuals as well — and handcuffed him, according to the NYPD.
Witness video obtained by Gothamist shows a bloody scene where two men laid on the floor of two separate train cars. Two injured men lying on the floor appear to be handcuffed, though police said only one man — Mickles — was suspected of a crime, fare evasion. It is NYPD protocol to handcuff a suspect after shooting the individual.
It’s unclear why multiple people appeared to be handcuffed, or what sequence of events resulted in people laying in separate train cars. Police did not address those details, or say why the Tasers used weren’t effective, at Sunday’s press conference. They have not answered further questions about the incident, which remains under investigation.
In a post on X on Sunday, Mayor Eric Adams only addressed the injury to an officer, without acknowledging who shot the officer.
“Earlier today, one of our officers was shot while protecting our subway system,” Adams wrote. “I am relieved to report he is in good condition now, and we have arrested the suspect who put so many lives in danger.”
On Monday morning, Holloway rushed to the hospital after hearing the news of her son Mickles’ condition.
“I need to get dressed,” she said. “I need to go be with him.”