(NEW YORK) — Brooklyn subway shooter suspect Frank James, was arrested within 30 hours after the incident through a combination of on-the-ground detective work, technology and possibly a tip from the fugitive himself, investigators said.
“We were able to shrink his world, quickly. There was nowhere left for him to run,” New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Officers got their first lead soon after the incident at the crime scene, the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where several eyewitnesses filmed and photographed James.
Police said the suspect also left behind key pieces of evidence that helped them track his movements before and after the incident — a 9 mm Glock allegedly used in the shooting, his coat, a bag filled with fireworks and James’ credit card.
James used the credit card to rent U-Haul van that was discovered parked five miles southeast of the station, police said. Officers recovered the vehicle later in the evening.
James legally purchased the gun in Ohio in 2011, according to the NYPD. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is currently looking over data related to the gun, according to the agency.
Cameras were not working inside the 36th Street subway station, but he was filmed entering the subway station near where the van was found, according to investigators. He was also spotted at the 7th Avenue station in Park Slope, roughly three miles north of the crime scene, less than 30 minutes after the shooting, police said.
James fled the scene in a R train from the 36th Street station, police said.
While investigators continued to probe through clues, including James’ social media posts where he ranted against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, police released his photo to the public Tuesday night and named James as a “person of interest.”
“That was a critical effect on raising the kind of public awareness,” John Miller, the NYPD deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said at Tuesday’s news conference.
A cellphone alert with James’ description went out to New York City residents at 10:21 a.m. Wednesday, just hours after the police officially identified him as a suspect.
The NYPD said they received a Crime Stoppers tip a few hours later from some claiming James was inside a McDonald’s in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The tipster may have been James himself, according to sources.
“I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news, and I’ll be around this McDonald’s,” one of the tipsters reportedly said, according to sources.
An NYPD official said police are reviewing the 911 call.
When officers responded to the McDonald’s, James was nowhere to be seen, so officers drove around the neighborhood, according to the NYPD.
Around 1:45 p.m. officers found James in the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan and arrested him without incident, according to police.
The FBI, ATF and other federal law enforcement agencies said they are still going through evidence and clues related to the shooting.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Mark Crudele contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Frank James, the man wanted for allegedly opening fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people, was taken into custody in Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon, officials said, ending an over 24-hour-long search.
“We got him,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced at a Wednesday news conference.
The NYPD received a tip saying the suspect was in the East Village, in a McDonald’s at 6th Street and 1st Avenue, police said. Responding officers didn’t see him in the McDonald’s, but they drove around the area and spotted James near St. Marks Place and 1st Avenue, where he was taken into custody without incident around 1:45 p.m. ET, police said.
James, 62, may have called police on himself, according to sources. Among the calls to 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.”
An NYPD official said police are reviewing the 911 call.
Once taken into custody, James asked for a lawyer and didn’t speak to officers, according to law enforcement sources.
James has been charged by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn with terror-related offenses, officials said, and has been transferred to federal custody.
James, wanted for the attempted murder of 10 people, was the subject of an intense search by the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal and local agencies.
In the chaos after the Tuesday morning shooting at the 36th Street subway station, James eluded law enforcement by boarding an R train that pulled into the station and traveling one stop before exiting at the 25th Street station, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. After that, James was seen again at a Park Slope subway stop at 9:15 a.m. before fading from view, Essig said.
The “active shooter” incident unfolded on a Manhattan-bound N subway just before 8:30 a.m. as the train approached the 36th Street station.
A man mumbling to himself on the train donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing 33 bullets, a police official told ABC News. Three teenagers were among the 10 people shot.
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.
Twenty-nine people suffered various injuries, hospital officials said. As of Wednesday morning, just four of the wounded remained hospitalized, according to Adams.
“Based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” Adams told ABC News in an interview Wednesday on “Good Morning America.”
“We still do not know the suspect’s motivation,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence.”
The Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun James allegedly used was purchased legally in 2011 in Ohio, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The gun, and the purchase of a gas mask on eBay, are among the pieces of evidence that elevated James from person of interest to suspect, the sources said.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that they also uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James and are studying them closely to see if they are relevant to the subway attack.
Sewell said she increased security for the mayor after investigators found what she called “concerning posts,” though she declined to call them “threats.”
“There are some postings possibly connected to our person of interest where he mentions homelessness, he mentions New York and he does mention Mayor Adams,” Sewell told reporters Tuesday. “And as a result of that, in an abundance of caution, we’re going to tighten the mayor’s security detail.”
Authorities are also tracking James’ whereabouts leading up to the shooting.
On Monday night, according to federal prosecutors, James accessed a storage unit with gun parts and ammunition in Philadelphia, near where he was living. According to prosecutors, police found “an empty magazine for a Glock handgun, a taser, a high-capacity rifle magazine and a blue smoke canister” in the apartment.
Prosecutors allege James rented a U-Haul van in Philadelphia on Monday. On Tuesday morning, James drove from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and then entered New York, reaching Brooklyn at about 4:11 a.m., prosecutors said.
Security cameras showed James at 6:12 a.m. Tuesday, wearing a hard hat and orange vest, two blocks away from the 36th Street station, prosecutors said. Police showed witnesses that surveillance video to identify him, according to prosecutors.
Police said the U-Haul was found Tuesday afternoon, parked near a subway station on Kings Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, about 5 miles from the 36th Street station.
The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent a U-Haul, were among the gunman’s possessions recovered from the shooting scene. Other items discovered at the scene of the shooting include the gun used in the attack, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks.
Phantom Fireworks, a company in Wisconsin, confirmed that James bought fireworks products there last year that were believed to have been left behind in the subway station.
None of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at the turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a glitch 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.
However, the cameras at the Kings Highway subway station in Gravesend were transmitting live feeds in real-time. That’s where investigators believe James entered the subway Tuesday morning, just blocks from where the U-Haul van was parked and eight subway stops away from the 36th Street station.
Police were able to get an image of the suspect from a bystander’s cellphone video, a law enforcement official told ABC News.
“The fact that these cameras are not working is a large concern,” Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso told ABC News Live on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of work to do in the city now to check every camera, make sure they’re all working, and also a deeper dive into what happened and what we can do in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen.”
Subway service at the 36th Street station resumed Wednesday morning.
The bloodshed came amid a surge in crime within New York City’s transit system. The mayor said he has already doubled the number of police officers patrolling the city’s subway stations and is also considering installing special metal detectors in the wake of Tuesday’s shooting.
But Reynoso said, “More cops is not necessarily going to solve for this problem.”
“I think there are root causes to this violence that exists, mostly mental health at this point, is what we’re seeing in New York City. And that’s where we should be spending resources and energy,” Reynoso said. “More cops to respond to a crime won’t necessarily stop the crime. In this case, this individual was inside a train car — unless you believe that you can put a police officer in every single train car in New York City, which is physically impossible … that’s not the way we’re going to solve that issue.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Wednesday, “The epidemic of gun violence that continues to terrorize communities across this country must end. My pledge to New Yorkers is this: I will fight every day to restore public safety, get guns off our streets, and prevent these horrific acts of violence.”
Anyone with information, videos or photos related to the shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim and Christopher Looft contributed to this report.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that police had probable cause to arrest James, 62, for the attempted murder of 10 people — a determination made overnight after more than 18 hours of investigation that included video, cellphone data and interviews with witnesses. The U.S. Marshals Service joined the search for James — who was considered a dangerous and wanted fugitive — along with other federal and local agencies.
The “active shooter” incident 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, according to police.
A man mumbling to himself on the train donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing at least 33 bullets, a police official told ABC News. Three teenagers were among the 10 people shot. 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 as others attempted to administer aid.
Twenty-nine people suffered various injuries, hospital officials said. As of Wednesday morning, just four of the wounded remained hospitalized, according to the mayor.
“At this time, based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News in an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.
“We still do not know the suspect’s motivation,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence.”
The Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun James allegedly used was purchased legally in 2011 in Ohio, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The gun, and the purchase of a gas mask on eBay, are among the pieces of evidence that elevated James from person of interest to suspect, the sources said.
Authorities have at least one of James’ credit cards and are able to track his purchase history.
Phantom Fireworks, a company in Wisconsin, confirmed that James bought fireworks products there last year that were believed to have been left behind in the subway station.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that they have uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James and are studying them closely to see if they are relevant to the subway attack.
Sewell said she increased security for the mayor after investigators found what she called “concerning posts,” but declined to call them “threats.”
“There are some postings possibly connected to our person of interest where he mentions homelessness, he mentions New York and he does mention Mayor Adams,” Sewell told reporters Tuesday. “And as a result of that, in an abundance of caution, we’re going to tighten the mayor’s security detail.”
Police said James had rented a U-Haul van possibly connected to the violence. The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent a U-Haul, were among the gunman’s possessions recovered from the scene of the shooting. James had rented the same van in Philadelphia, according to police.
Police said the U-Haul van was found Tuesday afternoon, unoccupied and parked near a subway station on King’s Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, about 5 miles southeast of the 36th Street station. Nothing of investigative interest was discovered in the vehicle, apart from a pillow and other indications that James had been living inside, a law enforcement source told ABC News.
Other items discovered at the scene of the shooting include the gun used in the attack, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks.
None of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at the turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a glitch 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.
However, the cameras at the Kings Highway subway station in Gravesend were transmitting live feeds in real-time. That’s where investigators believe James entered the subway Tuesday morning, just blocks from where the U-Haul van was parked and eight subway stops away from the 36th Street station.
Police were able to get an image of the suspect from a bystander’s cellphone video, a law enforcement official told ABC News. Investigators are looking through video from other witnesses and surrounding businesses, hunting for any clues.
“The fact that these cameras are not working is a large concern,” Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso told ABC News Live on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of work to do in the city now to check every camera, make sure they’re all working, and also a deeper dive into what happened and what we can do in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen.”
Subway service at the 36th Street station resumed Wednesday morning.
The bloodshed came amid a surge in crime within New York City’s transit system. The mayor said he has already doubled the number of police officers patrolling the city’s subway stations and is also considering installing special metal detectors in the wake of Tuesday’s shooting.
But Reynoso said, “More cops is not necessarily going to solve for this problem.”
“I think there are root causes to this violence that exists, mostly mental health at this point, is what we’re seeing in New York City. And that’s where we should be spending resources and energy,” Reynoso said. “More cops to respond to a crime won’t necessarily stop the crime. In this case, this individual was inside a train car — unless you believe that you can put a police officer in every single train car in New York City, which is physically impossible … that’s not the way we’re going to solve that issue.”
Anyone with information, videos or photos related to the shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim and Christopher Looft contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — New York City police are still hunting for a gunman who opened fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people.
The alleged shooter, identified by the New York City Police Department as 62-year-old Frank Robert James, was initially deemed a person of interest in the investigation before being named a suspect Wednesday morning.
“At this time, based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News in an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that police now have probable cause to arrest James for the attempted murder of 10 people — a determination made overnight after more than 18 hours of investigation that included video, cellphone data and interviews with witnesses. The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the search for James — who is now considered a wanted fugitive — along with other federal and local agencies.
The “active shooter” incident 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, according to police.
A man mumbling to himself on the train donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing at least 33 bullets, a police official told ABC News. Three teenagers were among the 10 people shot. 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 as others attempted to administer aid.
Twenty-nine people suffered various injuries, hospital officials said. As of Wednesday morning, just four of the wounded remained hospitalized, according to the mayor.
A wanted poster released by police Wednesday morning described James as “armed and dangerous.”
“At this time, we still do not know the suspect’s motivation,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence.”
A senior federal law enforcement source told ABC News that authorities are concerned the shooting showed a level of planning and commitment to kill scores of commuters during rush hour.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that they have uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James and are studying them closely to see if they are relevant to the subway attack.
Sewell said she increased security for the mayor after investigators found what she called “concerning posts,” but declined to call them “threats.”
“There are some postings possibly connected to our person of interest where he mentions homelessness, he mentions New York and he does mention Mayor Adams,” Sewell told reporters Tuesday. “And as a result of that, in an abundance of caution, we’re going to tighten the mayor’s security detail.”
Police said James had rented a U-Haul van possibly connected to the violence. The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent a U-Haul, were among the gunman’s possessions recovered from the scene of the shooting. James had rented the same van in Philadelphia, according to police.
Police said the U-Haul van was found Tuesday afternoon, unoccupied and parked near a subway station on King’s Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, about 5 miles southeast of the 36th Street station. Nothing of investigative interest was discovered in the vehicle, apart from a pillow and other indications that James had been living inside, a law enforcement source told ABC News.
Other items discovered at the scene of the shooting include the Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun used in the attack, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks. The gun wasn’t stolen, according to police.
None of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at the turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a glitch 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.
However, the cameras at the Kings Highway subway station in Gravesend were transmitting live feeds in real-time. That’s where investigators believe James entered the subway Tuesday morning, just blocks from where the U-Haul van was parked and eight subway stops away from the 36th Street station.
Police were able to get an image of the suspect from a bystander’s cellphone video, a law enforcement official told ABC News. Investigators are looking through video from other witnesses and surrounding businesses, hunting for any clues.
“The fact that these cameras are not working is a large concern,” Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso told ABC News Live on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of work to do in the city now to check every camera, make sure they’re all working, and also a deeper dive into what happened and what we can do in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen.”
Subway service at the 36th Street station resumed Wednesday morning.
The bloodshed came amid a surge in crime within New York City’s transit system. The mayor said he has already doubled the number of police officers patrolling the city’s subway stations and is also considering installing special metal detectors in the wake of Tuesday’s shooting.
But Reynoso said, “More cops is not necessarily going to solve for this problem.”
“I think there are root causes to this violence that exists, mostly mental health at this point, is what we’re seeing in New York City. And that’s where we should be spending resources and energy,” Reynoso said. “More cops to respond to a crime won’t necessarily stop the crime. In this case, this individual was inside a train car — unless you believe that you can put a police officer in every single train car in New York City, which is physically impossible … that’s not the way we’re going to solve that issue.”
Anyone with information, videos or photos related to the shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim and Christopher Looft contributed to this report.
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided to extend the federal mask mandate for planes and trains until May 3, the agency announced on Wednesday.
The current mandate was set to expire this coming Monday, April 18. Citing the rapid spread of an Omicron subvariant, BA.2, which now makes up more than 85% of COVID cases in the US, the CDC said it needed more time to monitor a recent uptick.
“In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity, the CDC Order will remain in place at this time,” the agency stated.
Many of the nation’s airlines have pushed hard to have the government lift the mandate.
Last month, CEOs of all major U.S. airlines wrote to the administration to stop requiring masks on planes.
“It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do,” the business executives wrote.
The group said the burden of enforcing the mask mandate has fallen on their employees, saying, “This is not a function they are trained to perform and subjects them to daily challenges by frustrated customers. This in turn takes a toll on their own well-being.”
There’s political pressure too. Several Democratic senators last March joined Republicans in a 57-40 Senate vote to overturn the requirement, although that bill hasn’t been taken up in the House.
The CDC decision to keep the status quo for just a little longer comes as the nation has entered an unprecedented phase in the pandemic. Much of the country is still exhibiting substantial spread of the virus, but hospitalizations and deaths have dropped since January.
The CDC though has argued that travel on airplanes, trains and buses presents a unique risk, including the possible rapid introduction of a dangerous new variant from overseas.
“There’s a lot of mixing, a lot of international travel that it’s hard to disentangle,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told ABC’s “Start Here” last March. The mandate also applies to all public transportation hubs, including airports.
Also, she noted that many people don’t have a choice but to use shared transportation to get to work. An estimated 3% of Americans are estimated to be immunocompromised and potentially at serious risk of the virus, even if vaccinated.
The number of unruly passengers on planes spiked during the pandemic. This year alone, the Federal Aviation Administration has received 1,150 reports of unruly passengers — 744 of which were related to face masks.
Just before the extension was announced, the head of the group that lobbies on behalf of all major U.S. airlines, doubled down on the call for getting rid of mask and pre-departure testing requirements.
“Neither restriction is currently supported by data and science in today’s public health environment,” Nick Calio, CEO of Airlines for America, said in a letter to administration officials.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.
FILE photo – Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — More than 102,000 customers in Texas and Louisiana are without power after a storm system ripe with tornado conditions ripped through the region, according to PowerOutage.us.
Eight tornados were reported in Iowa and Texas overnight with some severe damage reported.
Texas, Louisiana, Iowa and Minnesota were just some of the states that were under a tornado watch on Tuesday from a system that affected 45 million Americans with severe weather through the night, according to the National Weather Service. Tornados and heavy gusts were forecast from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee, to Evansville, Indiana.
On Monday night, at least six tornados were reported in nearby Arkansas.
More tornados are expected on Wednesday. The biggest threat for strong tornadoes Wednesday will be from Indianapolis to St. Louis; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; and down to Jackson, Mississippi. A tornado watch has been issued for portions of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and southern Illinois through Wednesday afternoon.
The severe tornado conditions are a continuation from March, which saw record-breaking tornado activity in the U.S. with 218 — the most to ever occur in that month, according to the National Weather Service.
The energy sector in Texas has been under scrutiny after an uncharacteristic winter freeze caused massive failures on the state’s power grid in 2021. The state experienced another mass power outage this past February as a result of another winter storm, when more than 50,000 customers lost power.
Last summer, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill to reform the state’s power grid and how it is operated in response to the power crisis.
More than 48,000 customers were without power in Texas as of Wednesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.
(NEW YORK) — New York City police are still hunting for a gunman who opened fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people.
The alleged shooter, identified by the New York City Police Department as 62-year-old Frank Robert James, was initially deemed a person of interest in the investigation before being named a suspect on Wednesday morning. There was a $50,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts.
“At this time, based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.
Law enforcement sources told ABC News that police now have probable cause to arrest James for the attempted murder of 10 people — a determination made overnight after more than 18 hours of investigation that included video, cellphone data and interviews with witnesses. The United States Marshals Service have joined the search for James — who is now considered a wanted fugitive — along with other federal and local agencies.
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, according to police.
A man, who was seen mumbling to himself on the train, donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister commonly bought online before pulling out a .38-caliber handgun and opening fire, a police official told ABC News. He fired a barrage of at least 33 bullets, striking 10 people, according to police. 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 as others attempted to administer aid.
A total of 29 people were transported from the scene to local hospitals with various injuries. Five of the gunshot victims were critically injured and have since stabilized, a fire department official told ABC News. As of Wednesday morning, just four of the wounded remained hospitalized, according to the New York City mayor.
Police described the gunman as an “active shooter.”
“At this time, we still do not know the suspect’s motivation,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence.”
A senior federal law enforcement source told ABC News that authorities are concerned Tuesday’s shooting showed a level of planning and commitment to kill scores of commuters during rush hour. The New York City mayor said there’s currently no evidence to suggest the gunman had any accomplices.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that they have uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to the suspect, James, and are studying them closely to see if they are relevant to the subway attack. In one video posted to YouTube just hours before Tuesday’s shooting, James appears to be driving a truck.
The New York City police commissioner said she increased security for the mayor after investigators found what she called “concerning posts,” but declined to call them “threats.”
“There are some postings possibly connected to our person of interest where he mentions homelessness, he mentions New York and he does mention Mayor Adams,” Sewell told reporters Tuesday evening. “And as a result of that, in an abundance of caution, we’re going to tighten the mayor’s security detail.”
Police said James had rented a U-Haul van possibly connected to the violence. The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent a U-Haul, were among the gunman’s possessions recovered from the scene of the shooting. James had rented the same van in Philadelphia, according to police.
Police said the U-Haul van was found on Tuesday afternoon, unoccupied and parked near a subway station on King’s Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, about 5 miles southeast of the 36th Street station. Nothing of investigative interest was discovered in the vehicle, apart from a pillow and other indications that James had been living inside, a law enforcement source told ABC News.
Other items discovered at the scene of the shooting include the Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun used in the attack, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks. The gun was not stolen, according to police. Investigators are sifting through evidence looking for any possible fingerprints on the gun and the other recovered items.
None of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at the turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a glitch 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.
However, the cameras at the Kings Highway subway station in Gravesend were transmitting live feeds in real-time. That’s where investigators believe James entered the subway on Tuesday morning, just blocks from where the U-Haul van was parked and eight subway stops away from 36th Street station.
Police were able to get an image of the suspect from a bystander’s cellphone video, a law enforcement official told ABC News. Investigators are looking through video from other witnesses and surrounding businesses, hunting for any clues.
Subway service resumed at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park on Wednesday morning, after police concluded their investigation there.
The bloodshed came amid a surge in crime within New York City’s transit system. The mayor said he has already doubled the number of police officers patrolling the city’s subway stations and is also considering installing special metal detectors in the wake of Tuesday’s shooting.
Anyone with information, videos or photos related to the shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
(NEW YORK) — Kenneth Foote-Smith was on the subway when a gunman detonated a smoke canister, sending commuters into panic.
He saw women screaming and “banging on the door,” and a man trying to open the subway car door, “fighting for his life.”
“That’s when I knew something was very, very wrong and that’s before the gunshots even happened,” Foote-Smith told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
Ten people were shot by a gunman on a Manhattan-bound N subway car during the Tuesday morning commute as the train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, according to the New York City Police Department.
The gunman — who remains at large — donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a .38-caliber handgun and opening fire, a police official told ABC News.
Twenty-nine people suffered injuries overall.
Foote-Smith said the first interruption to his commute was “a loud bang, sounded almost like glass breaking.”
“Everyone on my train got up and hurriedly moved toward the conductor’s door, and before I could turn to see what they were fleeing from, there were three loud bangs — and it was much closer and much different noise than that first bang,” he said.
Foote-Smith said he looked at the next subway car and saw a man “banging on our door, trying to open it up with all the ounce of power he can — and the door is not moving.”
That’s when smoke started filling up that neighboring car.
“Once my eyes adjusted to this really thick, white smoke filling up the car, I saw faces pressed against the glass of their subway connector door. And it was women’s faces and they were screaming, they were banging on the door,” he said. “And once we saw that gentleman banging on the door for — fighting for his life, that’s when we noticed — that’s when I knew something was very, very wrong and that’s before the gunshots even happened.”
The gunshots rang out as the train approached the 36th Street station, Foote-Smith said.
“It was three or four quick ‘pop, pop, pops,'” he said, “and everyone on my train immediately knew what it was.”
“No one screamed or said anything, we were just pleading with the conductor to please move this train,” he said. “He does eventually come out and sees the smoke — and the smoke at this point has now completely filled the car. I can’t see into the [neighboring] railway car anymore and people spilled out onto that small platform between the trains and the screams have now increased. “
“This is the moment when the gentleman in our train decides to try and open the subway connector door from our side — after we were frozen in fear for maybe the longest 30 seconds of our life –.and the door still jammed,” he said. “Now have to watch as people scream and struggle and try and fight for their lives for something we don’t know.”
There were more gunshots as the train pulled up to the station, he said.
“As soon as the subway doors opened, it’s a sea of people coming out of the subway,” he said. “I saw people with gunshot wounds and stumbling and pushing people over, coughing and choking on smoke.”
In the chaos, he said a conductor led passengers onto another train.
“My first thought when we got on that train, though, was, is the shooter still with us?” Foote-Smith said.
Police have named a suspect in the shooting — 62-year-old Frank R. James.
James is now considered a wanted fugitive. The U.S. Marshals have joined the search along with the NYPD, FBI, ATF and other agencies.
(NEW YORK) — New York City police are still hunting on Wednesday morning for a gunman who opened fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn.
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, according to the New York City Police Department.
A man, who was seen mumbling to himself on the train, donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister commonly bought online before pulling out a .38-caliber handgun and opening fire, a police official told ABC News. He fired a barrage of at least 33 bullets, shooting 10 people, according to police.
The gun jammed during the incident, which is believed to have saved lives, a law enforcement official told ABC News.
A total of 29 people were transported from the scene to local hospitals with various injuries. Five of the gunshot victims were critically injured and have since stabilized, a fire department official told ABC News. The bloodshed comes amid a surge in crime on New York City’s transit system.
Police described the gunman, who is still on the run, as an “active shooter.”
“At this time, we still do not know the suspect’s motivation,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at press conference Tuesday evening. “Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence.”
A senior federal law enforcement source told ABC News that authorities are concerned Tuesday’s shooting showed a level of planning and commitment to kill scores of commuters during rush hour. The source said it is too early to know if the suspect acted alone.
Police said they are also looking for the renter of a U-Haul van possibly connected to the violence. Frank R. James, 62, has been identified by police as “a person of interest in this investigation” and there’s a $50,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts.
The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent a U-Haul, were among the gunman’s possessions recovered from the scene of the shooting. James had rented the same van in Philadelphia, according to police, who noted that investigators weren’t sure whether he had any link to the attack.
“We are endeavoring to locate him to determine his connection to the subway shooting, if any,” James Essig, the New York City Police Department’s Chief of Detectives, said at the press conference Tuesday evening.
Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that they have uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James and are studying them closely to see if they are relevant to the subway attack.
Police said the U-Haul van was found on Tuesday afternoon, unoccupied and parked near a subway station on King’s Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, about 5 miles southeast of the 36th Street station. Investigators are working to determine if the U-Haul van has any connection to the suspect and are asking the public for their help with any information on what might have happened between the location where the vehicle was parked and the eight subway stops to 36th Street.
Other items discovered at the scene of the shooting include the Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun used in the attack, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks. The gun was not stolen, according to police. Investigators are sifting through evidence looking for any possible fingerprints on the gun and the other recovered items.
None of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at the turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a glitch computer malfunction, a source said. The same glitch impacted cameras at the stops before and after 36th Street. Investigators are looking into how this malfunction happened.
Nevertheless, police were able to get an image of the suspect from a bystander’s cellphone video, a law enforcement official told ABC News. Investigators are looking through video from other witnesses and surrounding businesses, hunting for any clues that point to a suspect.
Anyone with information, videos or photos related to the shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.
(NEW YORK) — The New York City Police Department has announced a person of interest in connection with Tuesday morning’s subway shooting in Brooklyn.
Investigators said they are looking for Frank James and released a photo of the person, asking the public to call NYPD Crime Stoppers with any information on his current whereabouts.
This is Frank James who is a person of interest in this investigation. Any information can be directed to @NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/yBpenmsX67
A gunman donned a gas mask, detonated a smoke canister and opened fire on a New York City subway train Tuesday morning, shooting 10 people and sparking panic during the rush-hour commute. The suspect fired 33 times, according to police.
Twenty-nine victims went to Brooklyn hospitals with various injuries. Five people were critically injured and have since stabilized, according to a fire department official.
Police described the gunman, who is still on the run, as an “active shooter.” The bloodshed comes amid a surge in crime on New York City’s transit system.
The shooting, reported just before 8:30 a.m. local time, erupted on a Manhattan-bound N subway car as it approached the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference.
According to a police official, the suspect was seen mumbling before he put on the gas mask, released a smoke canister commonly bought online and opened fire with a .380 caliber handgun.
The gun jammed during the incident, according to a police official.
Investigators recovered the gun, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks, according to police. The gun was not stolen, police said.
A credit card was also recovered from the scene and investigators said the card was used to rent a U-Haul, according to a police source. Keys to the vehicle were also found in the shooter’s possession, according to police.
Investigators located the vehicle in Gravesend, Brooklyn, on Tuesday afternoon, roughly five miles southeast of the subway station and were investigating to determine if it has any connection to the suspect, according to the police.
Police later said James rented the van in Philadelphia. There is a $50,000 reward for information that leads to his wherabouts.
The NYPD said it is still piecing together clues about the suspected shooter.
“At this time, we still do not know the suspect’s motivation. Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence,” police commissioner Keechant Sewell said at an evening press conference.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told New York station WABC that police are working on getting as much evidence and clues from the vehicle as they can.
“We want to make sure that all of the evidence that is gathered is going to assist us in apprehending this person. We must make sure that we have it protected correctly so that we can convict this person for,” he said.
There were no working cameras in the 36th Street station, according to a police official. The cameras, which are aimed at the turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a glitch computer malfunction, a source said. The same glitch impacted cameras at the stops before and after 36th Street.
Investigators are looking into how this malfunction happened.
But police were able to get an image of the suspect from a bystander’s cellphone video, a law enforcement official told ABC News.
Yav Montano, 24, was on the train when he said the whole car filled with smoke.
“It was hard to breathe, it was hard to see. It was hard to hear or pay attention to what was going on with the chaos that was happening,” he said.
“I didn’t see anything because the smoke in the train was so thick. I couldn’t even see halfway down the length of the train car,” he added.
“After the smoke went on, there was a bunch of popping, which I thought at first was firecrackers,” he went on. “I ducked behind a chair to protect myself.”
From a crouching position on the floor, Montano said, “I saw a lot of blood on the floor. Too much blood.”
Montano said the doors opened at 36th Street about three to four minutes later. “As soon as the doors opened, everyone started to pour out and run,” he recalled.
Multiple smoke devices and a bag of commercial-grade fireworks have been recovered, according to a law enforcement official.
Sewell said there are no known explosives on subways and a motive is still unknown.
After initially saying the shooting was not being investigated as an act of terrorism, Sewell later said police are “not ruling anything out.”
Sewell described the suspect as a man wearing a green construction-type vest and a gray-hooded sweatshirt. The suspect has a “heavy build” and is believed to be about 5 feet 5 inches tall, Sewell said.
A man who works in a bodega outside the subway told ABC New York station WABC about 10 to 15 people ran to his store for safety.
“It was horrifying,” he said.
“I saw three or four people with gunshot wounds to their legs. They just fell to floor before the cops came…They just stayed here for a couple of minutes before the coast was clear,” he said. “Everyone was terrified, I was terrified.”
A senior federal law enforcement source told ABC News authorities are concerned this shooting showed a level of planning and commitment to kill scores of commuters during rush hour. The source said it is too early to know if the suspect acted alone.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have been briefed on the situation, the White House said.
President Joe Biden said Tuesday afternoon that he’s “praying for those that are injured and all those touched by that trauma.”
“And we’re grateful for all the first responders … including civilians, who didn’t hesitate to help their fellow passengers,” Biden said.
Freelance photographer Derek French, who was on the platform when the incident took place, told ABC News how he and two other good Samaritans created makeshift tourniquets out of a jacket and applied them to the wounded.
“When I saw the pool of blood from one of the victims I essentially just snapped into first-aid mode,” French said, noting he’d previously trained with the Red Cross.
“It wasn’t a second thought, it was that I needed to do that,” he said.
The FBI is assisting and officials from the ATF are at the scene.
Later in the evening, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul visited victims who were recuperating at Maimondes Hospital
One of the victims was an 18-year-old student on the way to school, she said. The student was awaiting surgery, according to the governor.
“He seems to be doing well, and is in very good spirits, as well as his mother and grandmother who are there,” Hochul said.
The governor also said she spoke to the mother of a 16-year-old victim who had just undergone surgery.
“All she has is her son,” she added. “So I had a long, long hug with her and let her know that we send the love of all New Yorkers.”
Anyone with information, video or photos related to the shooting is urged to call 800-577-TIPS.
