Police hunt shooter who wounded 10 in Brooklyn train attack
NEW YORK CITY: Police continued to hunt Wednesday for the gunman who opened fire on a subway train in Brooklyn, an attack that left 10 individuals shot and as soon as again disrupted New York City’s long journey to post-pandemic normalcy.
The search focused partly on a man who police say leased a van perhaps connected to Tuesday’s violence.
Private investigators worried they weren’t sure whether the man, Frank R. James, was accountable for the shooting. But authorities were taking a look at social media videos in which the 62-year-old decried the United States as a racist place awash in violence and in some cases railed against New york city City Mayor Eric Adams.
“This nation was born in violence, it’s kept alive by violence or the danger thereof and it’s going to pass away a violent death. There’s nothing going to stop that,” James stated in one video.
Authorities Commissioner Keechant Sewell called the posts “worrying” and authorities tightened up security for Adams, who was already separating following a positive COVID-19 test Sunday.
Adams said Wednesday that investigators were zeroed in on finding James.
“We are going to continue to close the loop around him and bring him in, and continue the examination into this horrific act versus innocent New Yorkers,” the Democrat said on MSNBC.
The shooter sent smoke grenades in a congested train vehicle and then fired at least 33 shots with a 9 mm handgun, cops stated. Five gunshot victims remained in crucial condition however all 10 injured in the shooting were expected to endure. At least a dozen others who got away gunshot injuries were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries.
One guest, Jordan Javier, thought the very first popping sound he heard was a book dropping. Then there was another pop. People started moving towards the front of the car, he said, and he understood there was smoke.
When the train pulled into the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park area, individuals went out and were directed to another train throughout the platform. Guests wept and prayed as they rode away from the scene, Javier said.
“I’m simply grateful to be alive,” he stated.
The station was open as typical Wednesday morning, less than 24 hr after the violence. Commuter Jude Jacques, who takes the D train to his task as a fire security director some two blocks from the shooting scene, said he prays every morning however had an unique request on Wednesday.
“I said, God, everything is in your hands,'” Jacques stated. “I was antsy, and you can think of why. Everyone is scared because it simply occurred.”
The train system as a whole was running typically on Wednesday, with cops checking knapsacks at some stations, including the Atlantic Avenue/Barclay’s Center hub.
Tuesday’s shooter got away in the mayhem, leaving the gun, extended publications, a hatchet, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades, a black trash bin, a rolling cart, gasoline and the secret to a U-Haul van.
That essential led investigators to James, who has addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said. The van was later discovered, empty, near a station where investigators figured out the gunman had actually gotten in the train system, Essig stated.
Rambling, profanity-filled YouTube videos apparently published by James, who is Black, are packed with violent language and bigoted remarks, some against other Black people.
In one video, posted a day prior to the attack, he criticizes criminal offense against Black people and says drastic action is needed.
“You got kids entering here now taking device guns and slaughtering innocent individuals,” James states. “It’s not going to get better until we make it better,” he stated, adding that he believed things would just alter if specific individuals were “stomped, kicked and tortured” out of their “convenience zone.”
Numerous videos mention New york city’s subways.
A Feb. 20 video states the mayor and governor’s strategy to attend to homelessness and safety in the subway system “is doomed for failure” and describes himself as a “victim” of the city’s psychological health programs. A Jan. 25 video slams Adams’ plan to end weapon violence.
Adams stated in a video declaration that the city “will not enable New Yorkers to be terrorised, even by a single person.”
Released at Wed, 13 Apr 2022 13:08:07 +0000