The man suspected of firing more than 30 shots in a gun attack on a New York subway train has been charged with a federal terror offence.
Frank R James, 62, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon on the Lower East Side in Manhattan by two patrol officers without incident and is being held at a local police precinct.
At a press conference an hour or so after his arrest, law enforcement representatives said that the gun used in the attack, a 9mm Glock, was purchased by James in Ohio in 2011.
Officials said that James was apprehended thanks to a tip a few hours earlier that came in from a McDonald’s on Sixth Street and First Avenue by a member of the public, who took photographs and called NYPD’s Crime Stoppers. Officers responded to the McDonald’s, and when Mr James was not present, they began driving around the neighborhood. They found him on the corner of St Marks Place and First Avenue, one of the busiest intersections in the East Village, and took him into custody.
The 30-hour manhunt involved city, state and federal agencies, as well as help from the public. “We were able to shrink his world quickly, so he had nowhere left to turn,” said Keechant Sewell, the New York City Police Commissioner.
“We could have not done this without the public’s help,” said the FBI officer at the press conference.
James faces up to life in prison if he is convicted of a terrorist attack on mass transit, according to Breon S Peace, the US attorney for New York’s Eastern District.
At least four schoolchildren aged 12 to 16 are believed to be among the 29 passengers injured requiring medical treatment after suffering from bullet wounds, smoke inhalation, falls and panic. Five of 10 people shot were reported to be in critical but stable condition; another 19 were injured, though nobody was reported to be in life-threatening condition.
Details of his criminal history include nine previous arrests in New York between 1992 and 1998 for crimes including burglary, theft and sexual attack, as well as three in New Jersey (1992, 1993 and 2007) for crimes including disorderly conduct and trespass. He does not have a felony record and he was not known to the FBI, officers said.
Law enforcement agencies urged the public to keep sending them footage from the crime scene and elsewhere as they try to piece together James’ movements before and after Tuesday’s mass shooting – the worst violent incident on the subway system in recent history. At least one camera at the subway station failed to capture anything during the attack due to a “malfunction”.
So far they believe that James boarded an R train at Sunset Park after firing 33 shots in a packed N train carriage.
James was named a suspect after police found a key to a U-Haul van at Tuesday’s crime scene which authorities said James rented in Philadelphia, as well as a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and extended magazines, a hatchet, fireworks, a liquid believed to be gasoline, a black garbage can, and detonated and undetonated smoke grenades. It’s unclear where or how he obtained the weapon.
Authorities had offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the gunman, who was wearing a gas mask as he fired 33 shots on the packed train, in what is the worst violent incident on public transit in recent history.
On 4/12/22 at 8:30 AM, Frank Robert James fired numerous gun shots inside an "N" line subway car at 36th St & 4th Ave subway station causing serious injuries to 10 people. Anyone with info about the incident or his whereabouts should contact @NYPDTips or call 1-800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/MaeF16i4bX
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) April 13, 2022
James, who has links to Wisconsin, Philadelphia, Ohio, New York and New Jersey, has posted dozens of bizarre rambling videos on social media in recent years in which he has expressed a range of bigoted views on topics ranging from mental health services, death and race to Ukraine. Police released a screenshot of James taken from a YouTube video.
In a video posted last month, James singled out the city’s new mayor, Eric Adams, by name, criticizing his recently announced public safety policies targeting homeless people in the subway. The security detail for Adams, who is at home recovering from Covid, will be strengthened in light of the videos, according to New York’s police commissioner, Keechant Sewell.
In a video posted on Monday, James said he had experienced the desire to kill people but he didn’t want to go to jail.
In one uploaded last month from a rented white van, James sounds relaxed as he rambles about a range of topics, including moving out of his apartment, workplace troubles, the state of humanity, the climate crisis and overpopulation.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one neighbor told the New York Times that James walked with a limp, and described him as quiet and unthreatening, while another said he was grumpy, standoffish and weird.
Amid growing concern by campaigners that the shooting will lead to Adams deploying even more police on the streets and subway, Jamaal Bowman, democratic representative for the north Bronx and southern half of Westchester county, called for caution in an interview with CNN: “This was a horrible attack and that person needs to be held accountable but then we need to move on.”
Bowman, who has called for a decrease in police, especially in poor communities, added: “Police are one part of the solution but they are not the only solution. They cannot work in silos, they have to work with education officials, clergy, workforce development and mental health professionals so that we do a better job identifying people at risk.”
In an earlier interview on WNYC, Adams said that the city was exploring new gun detection technologies for the subway, which could be piloted soon. He also said the state, not the city, was responsible for cameras on the subway system.
As law enforcement searched for James, the subway service seemed back to normal at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. On Tuesday, graphic images had shown chaotic scenes on the platform after the mass shooting, with wounded passengers lying on the ground as others administered tourniquets to stem bleeding from their legs.
Other footage recorded as the train pulled into the station showed black smoke pouring out as the doors opened, followed by passengers, some screaming, others stumbling and falling to the platform. Phone images showed blood on the floor of the car.
Police presence on the subway was beefed up overnight, but Tuesday’s terrifying incident follows a spate of random attacks on the subway, which will not help government efforts to convince people that the city’s underground transport system is safe. At least a third of New Yorkers – about 3 million people – ride the subway, but passenger numbers are still down more than 40% compared with pre-pandemic numbers.
• This article was amended on 14 April 2022 because an earlier version misattributed a quote to Letitia James, the attorney general of the state of New York. In fact, the statement was given by Keechant Sewell, the New York city police commissioner.
