Frank James, 62, did not speak out against a law banning terrorist and violent attacks on public transport. He was arrested without incident by patrols in lower Manhattan on Wednesday after a 30-hour manhunt. James, who grew up in the Bronx, is accused of firing 33 shots with a 9mm Glock and detonating a smoke bomb in a crowded subway car during rush hour Tuesday morning. “The defendant opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way the city has not seen for more than 20 years,” said Sara K Winik, a U.S. assistant lawyer. “The accused’s attack was premeditated, carefully planned and caused terror to the victims and to our entire city.” Nearly 30 people were injured, including at least four students. The gunman fled the chaotic scene, boarding another train after throwing away the gas mask and the neon jacket he was wearing. James, who appeared in court in a khaki prison uniform and a blue surgical mask, spoke only to acknowledge that he had seen the complaint. He faces life in prison if convicted. His defense attorney has agreed to detain James, at least for now, but he could ask for bail at a later stage. At the request of the defense, Judge Roanne Mann agreed to ask the Federal Bureau of Prisons to provide James with “psychiatric care” as well as magnesium tablets for leg cramps at the federal lockup in Brooklyn where he is being held. James was arrested after several members of the public spotted him at a McDonalds center and called him Crime Stoppers. He was arrested by two patrols without support on a nearby street corner. The media reported that James also called the police to tell them his whereabouts have not been confirmed. The complaint details a series of pieces of evidence that authorities say link James to the mass murder. Authorities at the scene found a bag containing a Glock pistol, a plastic petrol canister, a flashlight, a U-Haul key and several bank cards, as well as another bag containing fireworks. James bought the gun from a licensed arms dealer in Ohio in 2011. The bank cards had James’ name on them and the U-Haul key was attached to a truck that James had rented in Philadelphia a day earlier, according to the report. Authorities also monitored the purchase of a gas mask on James through an eBay account. In addition, a new orange construction jacket, which was thrown at the Sunset Park subway platform where the gunman landed, had James with a receipt for a storage unit in Philadelphia, according to the complaint. Authorities found ammunition and other weapons in James’s storage unit, which prosecutors said indicated he planned to attack again. “The accused committed a premeditated mass shooting in the New York subway and then fled the scene, with a stockpile of ammunition and other dangerous items stacked in his storage unit. “The defendant poses a serious and continuing danger to the community, as well as a serious risk of absconding, which no series of release conditions can mitigate,” Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney general for the New York borough, told the judge before the hearing. . Authorities did not find any evidence linking him to terrorist organizations. James was born and raised in New York and moved to Milwaukee, although he had recently left Wisconsin and lived briefly in Philadelphia. His previous criminal record includes nine arrests in New York between 1992 and 1998, mostly for misdemeanors, and three in New Jersey (1992, 1993 and 2007) for crimes, including disorderly conduct and misconduct. Investigators are now looking at unusual videos that James appears to have posted on social media, including one the day before the attack, in which he complained about racism, black treatment by society, homelessness and violence. In a video posted last month, James singled out the city’s relatively new mayor, Eric Adams, for criticizing recently announced public security policies targeting homeless people on the subway. He also talked about his own history of PTSD and the plight of mental health services. Prior to Tuesday’s attack, Adams, who is recovering from Covid, had deployed thousands of additional police officers to patrol the transport system and forcibly remove homeless people at stations after a series of violent attacks on the subway. In the aftermath of the attack, Adams said the city was exploring state-of-the-art subway weapons detection technologies that could be piloted soon.
