Manhunt Underway After Shooter Opens Fire Outside Barclays Center, Injuring Bystander

A man who was shot in the ankle near the Barclays Center on Wednesday was an innocent bystander, police say. 

Gunfire rang out shortly after 2:15 p.m. Wednesday outside a shopping center across the street from the Brooklyn arena, sending people running and sparking a search for the suspect, according to officials.

A witness who was at a nearby Starbucks saw people running, then joined them.

"I thought they were firecrackers, I didn't think of it," said Marc Klein. "Then I saw people running, I finally figured it was gunshots."

A maze of blue police tape wrapped the sidewalk outside Barclays Wednesday evening as detectives canvassed the scene. At first, investigators said they were looking for two people, but they now believe it's only one.

Authorities say the shooting may have started with some sort of argument inside the subway station that overflowed onto the busy sidewalk. 

Police Thursday morning were still searching for the gunman who fled, and the NYPD says multiple shots were fired by the suspect, who left behind a baseball hat and a pair of glasses. The objects will be analyzed for DNA, police said. 

Witnesses said the gunman was yelling and threatening others as he ran away.

Bystanders were still rattled hours after the shooting.

"My hands were like shaking, like trauma," witness Marc Klein said, adding that he took off running when he heard the pop of the gun. 

The 50-year-old victim was taken to Methodist Hospital with a gunshot wound to his leg and was in stable condition, police said.

No one else was injured in the shooting. 

"I'm gonna say thank God," NYPD Deputy Chief Vincent DiDonato said. "Thank God that we only had one individual in light of what's happened today in our country. Thank God we only have one individual hit."