Mayor Eric Adams said he suspects the man who allegedly sparked the argument that ended with him being shot with his own gun suffered from mental illness. 

“If you look at these random acts of violence, when I looked at this tape, and broke it down piece by piece, and frame by frame, it is clear that it personifies what our pursuit is, in Albany, around those with severe mental health illnesses,” Adams said on “Mornings On 1” Friday.

The remarks were made before any background details of the 36-year-old gunshot victim were made publicly available.

“As the investigation unfolds, we’re going to see the nexus between the actions that took place there and many of the random acts of violence that unnerves New Yorkers,” he continued.

Adams has sought more power from Albany to involuntarily commit people with mental illness, removing them from the streets and subway. The mayor has also called for state funding for more subway patrols from the NYPD.

Instead, Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed state troopers and the National Guard to the subway system to check bags.

Peter Moskos, professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the National Guard deployment may appease suburbanites coming through Grand Central Terminal, but its police officers who can enforce the rules of transit. 

“The solution of maintaining order in the subway - the idea that somebody is in charge here - that is the way crime was brought down in the subway decades ago and that seems to be what we’ve given up on in recent years,” Moskos said. 

NYPD officers Friday announced that the gunshot victim who allegedly brought the gun into the subway system had walked into the station through the emergency gate without paying.

Police leaders defended the department’s fare enforcement operations.

“They need the political leadership to say we’re going to go out and police and enforce rules again,” Moskos said. 

Adams praised NYPD for reacting quickly to the sound of gunfire. 

“The strategy was the right one. We had police officers there,” Adams said. “We have police officers who are complimenting the traditional transit patrol, who are going into the system and doing inspections, and because of that, we made a quick apprehension.”

In a statement Friday afternoon, Hochul said she was horrified by the shooting.

In her New York City office, Hochul hosted representatives from local prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, City Hall and the MTA for a newly formed group she calls the New York Subway and Transit Safety Task Force.