A train was delayed at the Merrick Train Station Wednesday morning after police received a call from a passenger regarding a suspicious person with a gun on board.
According to Nassau County Police, the train was stopped in Merrick, and cops conducted a sweep on the train. Detectives discovered that the man in question was a police officer.
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The train in question was the westbound 7:48 a.m. from Wantagh that was due in Penn Station at 8:40 a.m.
LIRR officials confirmed that the train was delayed approximately 30 minutes due to the incident. Two other trains were held up "due to the congestion caused," they added.
The train was released once the man in question was identified as a cop, police said.
How did the delays affect your morning commute? Tell us in the comments section below.
This incident delayed this plus the following three trains, not two as the LIRR suggested (in total, about 4,000 honest, hard working people). I was on the third train following this (7:51...8:10...8:23) and was ten minutes late into Jamaica, and all of us connecting with either the Brooklyn or Hunterspoint 8:53 trains missed our connections. Not the end of the world, but this inconvenienced literally thousands of people. Okay, this guy could have been Colin Ferguson. But he wasn't. He was a police officer. But he also may have been any other ordinary citizen with a carry permit, legally in possession of that weapon on that train. A few months back a female conductor on an evening rush hour train out of Penn Station to Wantagh was acosted by a disorderly male passenger. She got on the P.A. and asked for any member of law enforcement to assist her and gave the car number. This request was responded to with alacrity by about eight off-duty, armed officers within a minute. We are going to need to re-learn how to live with authorized, and constitutionally protected firearms in our midst, in our daily lives. We can not be yanking the chain every time somebody spies a gun on train.