On December 7 , 1993 , her husband , Dennis , was killed , and her son , Kevin , was severely injured on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train at the Merillon Avenue station in the village of Garden City , when 35-year-old Colin Ferguson opened fire on passengers . Ferguson killed six and wounded 19 others . McCarthy responded to the crime by launching a campaign for more stringent gun control that eventually propelled her to Congress in 1996 on the Democratic ticket . She defeated freshman Republican Dan Frisa by a large margin . In the biographical 1998 television movie '' The Long Island Incident '' , which portrayed these events , she was played by actress Laurie Metcalf
opened fire on passengers
1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting
Carolyn McCarthy