Person of interest now a suspect in New York subway shooting, mayor says
Frank R James, originally named as a person of interest in Tuesday's New York subway shooting, is now a suspect in the case, the city's mayor has said.
James is being linked by authorities to the morning rush hour attack, in which at least ten people were shot.
The New York Police Department had initially identified James as a person of interest, saying he rented a van possibly connected to the shooting.
However, on Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Eric Adam's press secretary tweeted that James is now considered a suspect in the case and remains at large.
Authorities have been examining social media videos in which the 62-year-old claimed the United States was a racist place awash in violence and sometimes railed against Mayor Adams.
“This nation was born in violence, it’s kept alive by violence or the threat thereof and it’s going to die a violent death. There’s nothing going to stop that," James said in one video.
Police said Frank R James rented a van which was possibly connected to the attack
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell called the posts “concerning” and officials tightened Mayor Adams' security detail.
Shortly before 8.30am local time, a gunman opened fire on a subway train as it neared the station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park.
The shooter set off smoke grenades inside the crowded carriage, and fired at least 33 times with a 9mm handgun, police said.
Five gunshot victims were in critical conditions but expected to survive, while at least a dozen people who escaped gunshot wounds were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries.
Photos from the scene showed people tending to bloodied passengers lying on the floor of the station and the air filled with smoke.
One passenger, Jordan Javier, thought the first popping sound he heard was a book dropping. Then there was another pop, people started moving toward the front of the carriage, and he realised there was smoke, he said.
When the train pulled into the station, people ran out and were directed to another train across the platform. Passengers wept and prayed as they rode away from the scene, Mr Javier said.
“I’m just grateful to be alive", he added.
The gunman fled in the chaos, leaving behind the gun, extended magazines, a hatchet, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades, a black bin, a rolling cart, gasoline and the key to a U-Haul van.
That key led investigators to James, who has addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin, said Chief of Detectives James Essig. The van was later found unoccupied near a subway station where investigators determined the gunman had entered the train system, Mr Essig said.
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Rambling, profanity-filled YouTube videos apparently posted by James, are filed with violent language and bigoted comments, some against other Black people.
One video, posted on April 11, 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 said.
“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".
Several of the videos mention New York’s subways - one says the mayor and city governor’s plan to address homelessness and safety in the subway system “is doomed for failure” and refers to himself as a “victim” of the city’s mental health programs. Another, posted in January, criticises Mr Adams’ plan to end gun violence.
Mayor Adams, who is isolating after a positive Covid test, said in a video statement that the city “will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorised, even by a single individual".
The United States is currently facing a wave of gun violence, with New York itself seeing a spate of shootings in recent months.
"We say no more. No more mass shootings. No more disrupting lives", New York Governor Kathy Hochul said yesterday.