The personal tragedy that defined Long Island Rep. Carolyn McCarthys legacy

Former Long Island Rep.Carolyn McCarthy, who died last week, built a legacy on gun-control advocacy — after her husband was killed and son gravely wounded in the 1993 LIRR Massacre.McCarthy, who died Thursday at age 81, instantly became a grieving face of the gun crisis — and eventually entered politics over the issue — after 35-year-old madman Colin Ferguson launched his murderous spree aboard a train during the evening rush, killing six people and wounding 19 others.“I always worried about who will speak for the victims,” said McCarthy, a former nurse, shortly before retiring from the House in 2015 after a nearly 20-year stint that earned her the nickname “the gun lady.”On Dec.

7, 1993, Ferguson boarded the Hicksville bound-train from Penn Station at the Merillon Avenue stop in Garden City, LI, then calmly walked down the aisle of the third car, pulled out a gun and opened fire on roughly 80 passengers, including McCarthy’s loved ones.The train car’s aisles became “literally littered with bodies” as bullets tore through it, said survivor Tom McDermott, who took a shot to his left shoulder.Commuter Joseph Giugliano remembered watching in horror as the gunman drew closer, killing the woman sitting next to him as she tried to crawl away.The victim, Maria Magtoto, a 30-year-old lawyer from Westbury, LI, lifted her head as she was crawling — with Ferguson just feet away, the witness said in a 2013 interview.“Before you know it, she looked up, and he was maybe 8 to 10 feet away, and he pointed and shot her, shot her in the head,” Giugliano said.Her head exploded right next to me.

… It was horrible.“At that instance I looked up, and there he was, looking at me staring at me straight in the face.I said, ‘Dear God, I’m dead.’ ”Luckily, the rider survived with a bullet that ripped through his arm and into his chest — the final shot fired before Ferguson’s 15-round magazine ran dry and three passengers bravely lunged at him and ...