NYC Subway Shooting: Police Release Details of Man Wanted After Attack

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Police have released details of a “person of interest” they are looking for following a shooting on a rush hour subway train in New York.

Frank R James, 62, with addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin, is believed to have rented a van that police say may be connected to the shooting, though they have not confirmed James’s role in the attack.

The shooting occurred at 8:24 am Tuesday, in the second car of a Manhattan-bound subway train between the 59th Street and 36th Street stations.

The gunman was wearing a surgical mask and construction vest and set off two smoke canisters before shooting 10 people, New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said.

Another 13 people were injured after the attack, either from smoke inhalation or in the rush to escape, it added.

All the injured are expected to recover.

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Chaos in the New York subway when a gunman opens fire

Sewell said the attack was not being investigated as terrorism, but the motive was not yet clear and he “didn’t rule anything out.”

Police investigators found a 9mm semi-automatic pistol at the scene, along with extended magazines, an axe, detonated and unexploded smoke grenades, gasoline, and the key to the U-Haul truck.

Witness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS: “My subway door opened to calamity.

“It was smoke, blood and people screaming.”

Juliana Fonda, a broadcast engineer for WNYC-FM, told her Gothamist news site that passengers in the car behind her began banging on the connecting door.

“There were a lot of loud bangs and there was smoke from the other car,” he said.

“And people were trying to get in and they couldn’t, they were banging on the door to get into our car.”

Analysis by David Blevins, Sky correspondent in New York

In the city that never sleeps, they never let their guard down, but the latest mass shooting has ratcheted up the tension.

Police have beefed up the New York mayor’s security detail following a specific threat, but that hasn’t stopped him from speaking out about gun crime.

Eric Adam tweeted: “Killers are using weapons of mass destruction to kill innocent people.

“Ending gun violence means changing gun laws. “We can’t clean up a flood when the water keeps pouring into the basement. “We cannot stop until the peace we deserve becomes the reality we experience.”

The reality of yesterday morning was an indiscriminate attack with a firearm, injuring 10 passengers on a subway train.

It’s hard to imagine the utter terror that must have felt on passengers when a passenger put on a gas mask, detonated a smoke grenade and opened fire.

The suspect’s use of smoke grenades, a 9mm pistol and a large amount of ammunition speaks volumes about access to deadly weapons.

This attack occurred just 24 hours after President Biden tightened the law on “ghost guns” — weapons purchased in parts and later assembled.

The new laws will do little to reassure New Yorkers, a city that has seen a 68% increase in crime since the pandemic.

In some places there is talk of getting the guns out of politics, but the United States has not found a way to get the politics out of the guns.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said: “Killers are using weapons of mass destruction to kill innocent people.

“Ending gun violence means changing gun laws.

“We can’t clean up a flood when the water keeps pouring into the basement.

“We cannot stop until the peace we deserve becomes the reality we experience.”

James posted a series of rambling YouTube videos, according to The Associated Press; several mention the city’s subways, and Mr. Adams is a recurring theme.

James also used black nationalist rhetoric, violent language, and bigoted comments, some of them directed at other black people.

One video, posted in February, said the government’s plan to tackle homelessness and security in the city’s subway system was “doomed to fail.”

He also referred to himself as a “victim” of the mayor’s mental health program and criticized Adams’ plan to end gun violence.



Reference-news.sky.com

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