The head of the MTA expressed gratitude to the NYPD on Friday for their prompt response following a shooting on board an A train in Brooklyn and emphasized the need to remove guns from New York City.

Gunshots rang out during an altercation between two men around 5 p.m. Thursday aboard a northbound train as it approached the Hoyt-Schermerhorn St station, according to police officials. A 36-year-old man reportedly brandished a firearm before a 32-year-old man seized it and discharged multiple rounds, striking the 36-year-old in in the head.

Following the shooting, social media videos show a chaotic scene with passengers fleeing into the station and others cowering on the floor.

Authorities later apprehended the suspect who discharged the weapon. Charges against him are pending as of Friday morning, police say, while the 36-year-old remained in critical condition at an area hospital.

“I went to Hoyt-Schermerhorn, that station, this morning to say, ‘God bless you.’ We had tons of police at that station. They were on the situation, Literally, they were on the platform and others were just rushing downstairs and it could have been an active situation and they're running into harm's way,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said during an appearance on “Mornings On 1.”

In recent weeks, a surge in subway crimes prompted Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul to increase police patrols in the subway system, and Lieber said that strategy was crucial in apprehending the suspects in Thursday’s shooting.

“That plus of having cops in the system—and I heard that this morning from those riders I talked with on the train, they said, ‘We are seeing more cops’—that is a good thing,” he said.

Lieber said he now believes there needs to be a stronger push for public officials to prioritize “getting guns out of people’s hands” to prevent further incidents such as this.

He also encouraged New Yorkers to avoid involvement in dangerous situations in public spaces throughout the city.

“The emphasis on de-escalation, that is a New York thing. There are people who are willing to say, ‘Let's calm down, let's get it under control.’ And there were people on the train who did that, but once a gun is produced, the whole situation changes,” he said. “And we got to keep fighting back against this scourge of guns.”