Bernhard Goetz Shoots Four Black Teenagers on New York Subway

Bernhard Goetz, a white man, shoots four Black teenagers — Troy Canty, Darrell Cabey, James Ramseur, and Barry Allen — on a New York City subway car, claiming they were going to rob him. Goetz flees to New Hampshire. He is indicted in 1985 and acquitted of all charges except illegal weapons possession in 1987. The case polarizes New York along racial lines.