A man wanted over yesterday’s attack on the New York subway, where 10 people were shot, has been arrested and charged with a federal terror offence.
At least 23 people were injured in Tuesday’s subway shooting when a gunman set off smoke grenades in a crowded subway carriage before firing 33 shots with a 9mm handgun.
Frank James, 62, has been taken into custody in Manhattan and the US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, announced the charge against him at a press conference a short while later.
Investigators announced on Tuesday afternoon they were searching for James, who is believed to have rented a van possibly connected with the incident. By Wednesday morning authorities had announced him as a suspect.
Police trying to determine motive
Authorities have been examining rambling, profanity-filled social media videos in which James decried the US as a racist place, away in violence, and rallied against New York city’s mayor, Eric Adams. The videos contain violent language and bigoted comments.
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Police have been examining the videos to try and find a motive. In one video, posted a day before the attack, James criticises crime against black people and says drastic action is needed.
“You got kids going in here now taking machine guns and mowing down innocent people,” James says. “It’s not going to get better until we make it better,” he said, adding that he thought things would only change if certain people were “stomped, kicked and tortured” out of their “comfort zone”.
How a u-haul key linked gunman to the scene
Five gunshot victims remain in a critical condition but all ten of the wounded are expected to survive. At least a dozen others have been treated for smoke inhalation.
The gunman escaped in the chaos but left behind numerous clues including the gun, ammunition magazines, a hatchet, smoke grenades, gasoline and the key to a U-Haul van.
It was that key that led investigators to James, a New York City-area native.
The gun used in the shooting was purchased by James at a pawn shop – a licensed firearms dealer – in Columbus Ohio in 2011.
The van was found unoccupied near a station, which is where investigators determined the gunman had entered the subway system.
No explosives or firearms were found in the van. Police did find other items, including pillows, suggesting he may have been sleeping or planned to sleep in the van.
Surveillance video shows James driving up from Philadelphia and leaving the van early Tuesday morning. Other footage shows him entering the subway station in Brooklyn with a large bag.
‘It was blood, smoke and screaming’
Sam Carcamo, a witness, told a local radio station he saw a gigantic billow of smoke pouring out of the train once the door opened.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” he said.
A video captured by a bystander shows people lying on the subway platform surrounded by what appear to be small puddles of blood, as a loudspeaker announcement tells everyone to get on a train.
