Source: NYPD / NYPD
As New York City is still shaking off the effects of the brutal shooting attack on a subway train in Brooklyn yesterday, authorities have zeroed in on one man, naming him as their main suspect.
The New York Police Department has named Frank James as their main suspect Wednesday (April 13th) in the heinous shooting on a northbound N train pulling into the 36th Street station during the morning rush hour at 8:24 A.M. on Tuesday (April 12th). The 62-year-old was identified at a press conference held by the department yesterday evening as a “person of interest”, but they have made the change based on information obtained during their current investigation of his social media posts.
The information includes a series of videos made by James that were posted to YouTube, illustrating someone who had pointed and harsh opinions on NYC Mayor Eric Adams and other current events. “The police released a screenshot of Mr. James taken from a YouTube video posted by a channel belonging to the username prophetoftruth88,” reported the New York Times in an article. Another video shows James speaking plainly about his mental health issues. “I have been in crisis, as a patient. I have a diagnosis that goes back to 1980, and I have been in crisis. I have acted out, so to speak, to the point where I had to be locked up because I was using illegal narcotics, I’ll just say.” The videos also mention the rise of crime in the city’s subways.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell made reference to James’ social media activity in the press conference. “He mentioned New York and he does mention Mayor Adams,” she told reporters. “As a result of that, in an abundance of caution, we’re going to tighten up their security detail.” Other details gleaned from the continuing investigation state that the gunman used a firearm purchased from a pawn shop in Ohio more than a decade ago.
Investigators had located a U-Haul van that was rented in the suspect’s name along with other items of interest Gravesend neighborhood four miles away from the scene later on Tuesday afternoon. According to CBS News, Mayor Adams said that there was no evidence that James carried out the attack with someone else. “We don’t know his motivation to make a classification if this was a terrorist act or not,” Adams said in a virtual press conference to reporters. “But even without that designation, we know that he wanted to bring terror.”
UPDATE: James has been captured and arrested in the East Village neighborhood of NYC.
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