Richard Nettleton was 24 and commuting on the Long Island Rail Road when the 5:33 p.m. eastbound train from Penn Station reached Jamaica on the evening of December 7, 1993. Somewhere in the third car, passenger Colin Ferguson produced a 9mm Ruger and began firing as the train neared Merillon Avenue station in Garden City Park. Shots rang out down the aisle; some riders initially mistook the noise for something else until blood and screams made clear what was happening.

Passengers tackled and restrained Ferguson when he paused to reload, and an off-duty LIRR police officer on the platform handcuffed him. The attack was prosecuted in Nassau County; Ferguson was convicted in February 1995 on six counts of second-degree murder and multiple counts for wounded passengers, and received a sentence intended to keep him in prison for life. Appeals, including a 1998 decision affirming competency and the convictions, followed.

Does anyone have memories of the Merillon Avenue stop or that car from that evening that could add detail to the timeline?