Brooklyn subway attack suspect to make 1st court appearance

April 14, 2022 Associated Press

Law enforcement officials lead subway shooting suspect Frank R. James, 62, center right, away from a police station and into a vehicle, in New York, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. James, accused of shooting 10 people on a Brooklyn subway train, was arrested Wednesday and charged with a federal terrorism offense. AP Photo/John Minchillo

Share this:

The man accused of opening fire on a crowded subway train in Brooklyn is expected to make his first court appearance Thursday as investigators continue to examine his possible motive.

Frank James, 62, was arrested in Manhattan on Wednesday, a day after the attack. Authorities say he unleashed smoke bombs and dozens of bullets in a train full of morning commuters, shooting 10 people.

“He fired approximately 33 rounds in cold blood at terrified passengers who had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide,” federal prosecutors wrote Thursday in court papers asking that James be held without bail.

They called the shooting premeditated and calculated, saying that James wore a hard hat and construction worker-style jacket as a disguise and then shed them after the gunfire to avoid recognition. Prosecutors suggested James had the means to carry out more more attacks, noting that he had ammunition and other gun-related items in a Philadelphia storage unit.

This image provided by New York Police Department on Wednesday, April 13, 2022, shows suspected subway shooter Frank R. James, 62, leaving a subway station after his attack on a subway train Tuesday. New York Police Department via AP

A lawyer appointed to represent him didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. James didn’t respond to shouting reporters Wednesday as he was led from a police precinct into a car headed for a federal detention center.

Authorities say a trove of evidence connects James to the attack. His credit card and a key to a van he had rented were found at the shooting scene. Officers also found the handgun they said was used in the shooting; tracing records show James purchased the gun from a licensed gun dealer in Ohio in 2011.

Investigators were examining many hours of videos that James posted on social media, including one a day before the attack, in which he delivered profanity-laced diatribes about racism, society’s treatment of Black people, homelessness and violence. He also talked about his history of psychiatric treatment, and he complained about New York’s mayor is dealing with homeless people on subways and with gun violence.

James was born and raised in New York City but had moved to Milwaukee. He’d recently left Wisconsin and had briefly lived in Philadelphia.