Authorities CAPTURE lead SUSPECT in NYC SUBWAY SHOOTING. To be tried as TERRORIST

US News of note
https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/nyc-subway-shooting/?id=84075950

The New York City man accused of opening fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn is expected to make his initial court appearance Thursday.

Frank Robert James, 62, was arrested in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said, more than 24 hours into an intense manhunt that began after 10 people were shot on a crowded subway car in Brooklyn.

He was charged in a criminal complaint with committing a terrorist act on a mass transportation vehicle and was subsequently transferred to federal custody. James faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted, said Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

James, who was born in New York City and has lived in Philadelphia and Milwaukee in recent years, will appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann in Brooklyn federal court on Thursday, according to Peace. The exact timing is unknown.

“As alleged, the defendant committed a heinous and premeditated attack on ordinary New Yorkers during their morning subway commute,” Peace said in a statement Wednesday. “All New Yorkers have the right to expect that they will be safe as they travel throughout our great city and use our vital transportation systems.”

The shooting unfolded on a Manhattan-bound N subway car during the Tuesday morning commute, just before 8:30 a.m. ET, as the train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.

A man mumbling to himself on the subway car donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing a barrage of 33 bullets, hitting 10 people, a police official told ABC News.

The gun jammed during the incident, which is believed to have saved lives, a law enforcement official told ABC News.

Smoke poured out of the subway car as the doors opened and screaming riders ran out onto the platform of the station. Bloodied people were seen lying on the floor of the train and the platform.

A total of 29 people were injured, according to hospital officials.

According to the criminal complaint, police recovered two bags from the scene containing, among other items, a Glock 17 pistol, a key to a U-Haul rental vehicle and multiple bank cards, including a debit card with the name Frank James. They also discovered a jacket with reflective tape near the two bags that had a receipt for a storage unit in Philadelphia, which records provided by the facility showed was registered to James, the complaint said.

The Glock recovered from the scene was lawfully purchased by James in Ohio, according to the complaint.

Records provided by U-Haul showed James rented a white Chevrolet van from the company in Philadelphia on Monday, according to the complaint. The U-Haul vehicle crossed states lines from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and then to New York, the complaint said. Surveillance cameras recorded the van driving over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge before dawn Tuesday and entering Brooklyn, according to the complaint.

At approximately 6:12 a.m. ET, another surveillance camera recorded an individual wearing a yellow hard hat, orange working jacket with reflective tape, carrying a backpack in his right hand and dragging a rolling bag in his left hand, leaving the U-Haul van on foot near West 7th Street and Kings Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, according to the complaint.

Police later located the vehicle parked on Kings Highway, about two blocks from a subway stop for the N-train, where investigators believe James entered the mass transit system.

“Based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” Mayor Eric Adams told “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.

Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News they also uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James, including, police said, “race-based grievances and conspiracy theory narratives.”

Police added, “James made several statements indicating that he suffers from a deteriorated mental and emotional state, including claims of severe post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as at least one video that includes a potential indicator of his intent to conduct an act of violence.”

The investigation was complicated by the fact that none of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of the attack, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a computer malfunction, a source said. The same glitch impacted cameras at the stops before and after 36th Street. Investigators said they are looking into how this malfunction happened.

James was ultimately apprehended after police received a tip that he was in a McDonald’s near 6th Street and 1st Avenue. When responding officers didn’t see James at the fast-food restaurant, they drove around the area and spotted him near St. Marks Place and First Avenue, where he was taken into custody at around 1:45 p.m. ET on Wednesday, according to police.

Sources told ABC News that James may have called police on himself. Among the calls to NYPD Crime Stoppers was reportedly someone who said: “I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news, and I’ll be around this McDonalds.”

James allegedly gave his name and a description of what he was wearing, according to sources. He said his phone battery was dying and he would be either in the McDonald’s charging his phone or out front, according to sources. A New York City Police Department official told ABC News investigators are reviewing the 911 call.

When officers didn’t find the suspect in the McDonald’s, a block away they encountered pedestrians who told officers they found James, sources said. James was found standing at a kiosk charging his phone, according to sources.

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Aaron Katersky, Soo Rin Kim, Josh Margolin, Christopher Looft and Pierre Thomas contributed to this report.

No Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

"JB"
US policy on Haitian immigrants carries the waft of racism given the current situation.

OP ED: by “JB”- Before all the REDS freak out, let me clarify. I am NOT in favor of recklessly open borders with anyone being able to enter the US unchecked or undocumented. In the same way I am NOT in favor of it here, and mention DARIEN probably more …

US News of note
EX-PAT NEWS: Just WTF happened in Baltimore with bridge collapse?

Ship passed through Canal two weeks ago with no issues. https://www-laestrella-com-pa.translate.goog/economia/acp-choque-de-barco-en-baltimore-afecta-el-suministro-de-carga-contenerizada-IF6667039?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc The ACP told this media that the cargo that was moving to Baltimore will be moved to other ports on the East Coast The collision of the cargo ship Dali against a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge …

US News of note
Justice for Ohio infant left alone to die for 7 days. Life sentence, no PAROLE.

http://elsiglo.com.pa/internacional/cadena-perpetua-para-madre-irse-vacaciones-dejo-sola-bebe-murio/24247162 The woman admitted that she left her daughter alone and without care inside the house from June 8 to 16, 2023  The mother of a 16-month-old baby, who died after being left alone for eight days in a home in Cleveland, Ohio, while she was on vacation on an …