A man standing on a subway platform was shot in the face Thursday night in the fourth seemingly random shooting in the city transit system in a month, police sources said on July 2.

The bullet ripped through the man's face and came out the back of his head. The man was rushed to a nearby hospital and was reportedly in critical condition, police said.

It was not immediately clear what sparked the shooting, but police said the shooter was talking to the victim before the shot rang out.

The shooting renewed fears of many terrified commuters, who have seen four similar incidents in the past month, which started when model Monica Meadows was shot on a subway train on June 1. Noone has been arrested in connection with that shooting.

Last week, a 29-year-old student was gunned down on a train. Two men were seen charging out of the station after the shooting. Neither has been caught.

Again on Monday, an unknown gunman fired a number of rounds inside the Wall Street station at a man he thought was staring at him. No one was injured.

Yet, according to statistics released this week by the police, serious crime remained low in the city's subways with an average of about 8.6 serious crimes a day, down from a high of around 16 serious crimes a day in 1977.

Source: Xinhua