His neighborhood in Brooklyn seemed like a safe haven in the big city. The subway shooting changed that.

Panic in Brooklyn: The footage of the subway shooting 0:47 Brooklyn (CNN) –– John Acevedo was woken up by a scandal outside his home. Something perhaps not so strange for a New Yorker, but unusual in his neighborhood of Sunset Park, in Brooklyn, far from the tourist area. The 20-year-old could make out the sound of sirens in the street, as well as helicopters flying over the area. When he walked out the front door, he ended up in unexpected chaos. Acevedo lives right across from the 36th Street subway station where, just hours earlier, a man opened two smoke grenades and fired at least 33 shots at passengers, injuring 10 people. “It’s really surreal for us,” Acevedo told CNN. “This whole neighborhood is a community, crime is not what you expect here. I’m speechless.” Sunset Park Community Reacts to Shooting Following the shooting, neighbors held hands through the fences separating their homes. Others sat in shock on their front steps. This type of violence is something residents of this tight-knit community are used to hearing about in other neighborhoods. Not here. Not so close to the shelter where everyone is called “family.” Survivor says he was sitting next to shooter on New York subway 4:29 Like Acevedo, Nicholas Sciammarella and his partner, Anthony Valentino, knew early on that something was wrong when the sound of sirens flooded their home during the breakfast. The couple lives a block from the station, and Valentino decided to see what was going on there. “I saw two people holding a man who was all bloody, with blood all over his hands, and he was in shock, walking around like a zombie before sitting on the ground,” Valentino said. He stayed put, offering water, phone calls and help to those leaving the station. Sciammarella said they also called his entire list of neighbors, “contacting one by one and making sure everyone is okay.” Nicholas Sciammarella, left, and Anthony Valentino, residents of Sunset Park. “Never in my life could I have imagined it” At the L&E Deli Grocery, just two blocks from the station, manager Elia Tapia, 38, was trying to process what happened. She has lived in Sunset Park for 20 years. “Never in my life could I have imagined this would happen to our home,” she said. “This is a big surprise for us, this neighborhood is so nice and quiet, nothing happens. We are a family here, we all know each other and take care of each other.” If you ask a Sunset Park resident to describe her neighborhood, she’ll probably tell you that it’s a quiet, friendly place, the kind of neighborhood to build a family. It’s just a short subway ride from Manhattan, but far enough away to feel like you’re in a completely different city. Situated on the waterfront, Sunset Park offers green space and views of New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty, and even New Jersey on a clear day. This is how the moment of the shooting in the New York subway was lived at 1:21 Tapia now she has lost that sense of security that she always adored in her neighborhood. “I used to be able to walk here, late at night, at 2 a.m. to the train, but now I would never be able to,” she told CNN. “We can feel the difference (in the violence) in the city. But still we could never have expected this to happen to us.” Members of the New York Police Department patrol the streets after the mass shooting on April 12. (Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) Shooting comes amid rising violence The mass shooting at the 36th Street subway station comes amid rising violence in New York City. More than 360 people have been shot this year in 322 shooting incidents, according to figures released by the NYPD as of Sunday. That represents an 8.4% increase in these events during this time last year. However, crime in general in the public transport system soared even more: 68% compared to last year, the New York police reported. With Tuesday’s shooting, Lilea Ng also felt like her home was under attack, she told CNN. Ng, a Chinese-American who was born in Panama, moved to the city 20 years ago, eager to live the so-called American dream. She now says that her dream is turning into a nightmare. Even before the Brooklyn station shooting, Ng avoided using the subway or any public transportation, she explained. And she took aim at the rise in violence toward Asian Americans during the pandemic. “I’ve never felt so insecure before,” Ella Ng said. “Even after 9/11 I felt safe. But the feeling I have now is different. I never ride the subway or any public transport anymore,” she added. Leave New York? Moving out of New York was never on the table. But now the thought lingers in the back of her mind. At Sunset Park’s Minnie’s Bar, a favorite with locals, residents gathered to discuss similar sentiments. Inside the dimly lit bar, the energy was still comforting. A proof that despite the fears, the anguish and the confusion, this community is united in this. Was the authority’s response effective after the shooting in New York? 2:04 This is how resident Guillermo Tejeta, 30, described it, sitting at the bar with his newborn baby on his lap. Tejeta was driving home from dropping his son off at day care when commotion broke out around him: police officers flooded the street, stopping traffic and making room for first responders. “People were talking about gunshots and explosions and I said, ‘Yeah, whatever,'” Tejeta said. But when he was home he went online and realized what was going on. Shooting was ‘a hit very close to home’ “Just yesterday, my girlfriend’s mother called us and said, ‘You have to leave New York.’ And I was like, ‘Hell no, I’ve lived my whole life here, I’m not going anywhere.’ But this was a hit very close to home.” Tejeta said she goes to Minnie’s often, but felt the need to be there especially this Tuesday to talk about it with friends and family. “This is our subway stop. what we wear to work, to go to town, so it’s scary, it’s really scary,” she added. She paused to kiss her baby’s head. “We have to make you strong in New York, okay? CNN’s Alaa Elassar reported and wrote from Brooklyn. Theresa Waldrop wrote from Atlanta.