NEW YORK — Frank James is now in custody and will face federal charges stemming from the shooting on the New York City subway. Police had offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest.
Police had named Frank James as a person of interest, saying Tuesday night that they did not know if James was the man who pulled the trigger at least 33 times, leaving 10 people with gunshot wounds and more than a dozen other people hurt, News 12 The Bronx reported.
James is now being called a suspect by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, The New York Times reported.
Updated 5:22 p.m. EDT April 13: Frank R. James, the man suspected in the shooting on a New York City subway on Tuesday, called the New York Police Department’s tip line on Wednesday to say he was inside a McDonald’s restaurant in Manhattan, The Associated Press reported, citing anonymous sources. According to the AP, James told authorities to come and get him.
Among the calls that came into Crime Stoppers was a person who said he was the shooter, WABC-TV reported.
“I think you’re looking for me,” the caller reportedly said, according to the television station. “I’m seeing my picture all over the news and I’ll be around this McDonald’s.”
Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said James was gone by the time officers got to the fast-food restaurant, but they soon spotted him on a corner nearby, the AP reported.
James will have his initial court appearance on Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn, John Marzulli, spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, said on Wednesday, according to CNN.
Updated 2:33 p.m. EDT April 13: Mayor Eric Adams declared “We got him. We got him,” before thanking all of the first responders and the public who worked hard to capture James. Adams joined the event via video conference after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said James was captured without incident by officers who were responding to a crime stoppers’ tip, CNN reported.
She said they used “every resource at their disposal” to “shrink his world quickly” leaving him “nowhere left to run.”
NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said that evidence was the reason James went from a person of interest to a suspect. Essig also listed various past criminal charges that spanned nearly 30 years.
Essig said officers had found a video of him entering a separate subway station, three blocks from where the U-Haul was rented.
Police believe James left the subway system one stop away at the 25th Street station after the shooting.
James will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn.
He faces a federal charge of terrorism attack on mass transit among other charges, Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said. They also said that James traveled across state lines before the shooting.
In a news release, Peace said, “On April 12, 2022, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, in the Eastern District of New York, the defendant Frank James did knowingly and without lawful authority and permission commit an act, including the use of a dangerous weapon, with the intent to cause death and serious bodily injury to passengers and MTA employees on the New York City subway system. The government will prove, among other things, that James traveled across a state line in order to commit the offense and transported materials across a state line in aid of the commission of the offense.”
While the charges involve terrorism, there is still no motive for the shootings, Peace said.
James faces up to life in prison if convicted, CNN reported.
Law enforcement is still looking for the public for any information, photos or video leading up to the shootings to help, Michael Driscoll, the FBI Special Agent-in-Charge said during the news conference.
Updated 1:57 p.m. EDT April 13: Law enforcement officials said James is in police custody, CNN reported. He was apprehended in the East Village by patrol officers from the 9th Precinct.
The Associated Press also reported that James had been arrested.
WABC said he was spotted by bystanders near St. Marks Place and First Avenue.
Earlier in the day, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told MSNBC, “We are going to continue to close the loop around him and bring him in, and continue the investigation into this horrific act against innocent New Yorkers,” the AP reported.
Meanwhile, 10 people are still hospitalized in connection to Tuesday’s shooting, CNN reported. At first, 29 people were taken to medical facilities.
Updated 12:27 p.m. EDT April 13: The gun that was used during the shootings has been linked to James, law enforcement sources told The Associated Press.
The gun was apparently sold to James from a licensed firearms dealer at a Columbus pawn shop in 2011, the AP reported.
The link to the gun was what changed James from a person of interest to a suspect, law enforcement officials told CNN.
Officials also linked the purchase of a gas mask to James through an eBay account, CNN reported.
A spokesperson for the online auction told CNN “while we cannot comment on individual users’ activities, when contacted by law enforcement agencies, we fully cooperate and work closely with them to assist with their investigations.”
James’ sister, Catherine James Robinson, said her brother was born in the Bronx and moved from city to city, not staying long, The New York Times reported. She said he has “been on his own his whole life” and that she had little contact with him.
The last time the siblings had talked on the phone was after the death of their sister Barbara Jean Gray several years ago, the Times reported.
She also said her brother did not fit the description of the shooter that was initially released. That person was described as about 5 feet 5 inches tall and heavy set. Her brother is over 6 feet tall and about 300 pounds, the Times reported.
Updated 11:45 p.m. EDT April 13: No weapons or explosives were found in the U-Haul police said was rented by James and found near the subway station where the shooting occurred, CNN and The New York Times reported. Police said they did find food remnants and that it appeared that James may have slept in the van. A license plate reader detected the van driving across the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn from Staten Island at about 4 a.m. Tuesday.
Updated 10:28 a.m. EDT April 13: Metropolitan Transit Authority CEO Janno Lieber said the NYPD has access to “an enormous range of video” from transit system cameras to help investigate Tuesday’s shooting, CNN reported.
“The cops have been looking overnight at all of the stations, where he got on, where he might have got off,” Lieber said on “CBS Mornings.” “There’s an enormous range of video.”
There had been reports that the cameras at the platform where the incident ended were not working. Lieber said it could have been a server issue.
“I think that in the one location by the turnstile, there was apparently a server problem, which they had been working on the day before,” Lieber said, according to CNN. “But the bigger issue is, there’s so much video evidence from all of the stations on this line that there are images of this fellow that are going to be found.”
The FBI is asking anyone who may have information, images or video relating to Tuesday’s attack to share it on the FBI’s website.
The U.S. Marshals Service is also looking for James, ABC News reported.
Original report: James was listed as the person who rented a U-Haul that police said may be connected to the attack. The vehicle was rented in Philadelphia, where James has listed a residence. He also has an address in Wisconsin.
James has a connection to New York City, as he took part in an educational training program there in the past and has a City of New York ID card, CNN reported.
The U-Haul was recovered hours after the shooting. A key to the vehicle was found among the items discovered at the scene of the shooting, along with a gun and undetonated smoke grenades, News 12 reported.
A hatchet, fireworks and a liquid believed to be gasoline were also found at the scene, The New York Times reported.
>>Previous coverage: Brooklyn subway shooting: Gunman fired at least 33 times, police say
William Weimer, a vice president at Phantom Fireworks, said that a man named Frank James from Milwaukee had purchased several brands of the fireworks seen in a photo released by police from the company’s store near Racine, Wisconsin, last June, the Times reported.
Police and subway riders said a “mumbling” man wearing a vest and a gas mask threw smoke grenades into a subway car in Brooklyn before opening fire during morning rush hour, WABC reported.
Cameras in the subway station were not working at the time of the attack, but police said a bystander’s cellphone video captured an image of the alleged gunman, WABC reported.
Adams said the manhunt for James is still ongoing nearly 24 hours after the shooting.
“We’re asking all New Yorkers, if they see something say something — or do something — and that’s notify local authorities or call our hotline,” Adams said in an interview with “Good Morning America” on Wednesday morning.
Security has been increased for Adams as James had posted dozens of video rants on social media, most recently criticizing the mayor’s policies, the Times and WABC reported.
CNN reported videos also showed James had stopped in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Pittsburgh; and Newark, New Jersey, before he arrived in Philadelphia on March 25.