The man now thought of a suspect in the Brooklyn subway taking pictures appeared to submit movies of himself on social media expressing bigoted views, violence and criticism of New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ insurance policies addressing public security and homeless outreach on subways.
New York police on Wednesday recognized Frank R. James, 62, as a suspect in the Tuesday morning rush-hour assault that wounded at the very least 10 and injured 13 others. He was beforehand only a particular person of curiosity.
A $50,000 reward is being provided to search out James, who police mentioned had addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia.
Police mentioned James rented a U-Haul van, the keys of which have been discovered on the scene of the taking pictures in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
One of the photographs police shared of James was a screenshot of a video from the “prophet of truth 88” YouTube channel, a platform the place he seems to go on prolonged, profanity-filled rants and specific controversial views. He talks about loss of life in a number of movies and the need to “exterminate” sure teams of individuals in one clip.
In a video posted Monday, James mentioned he had skilled the need to kill individuals however he didn’t need to go to jail. In one uploaded March 18, he claimed he suffered from extreme post-traumatic stress dysfunction.
In one other video posted Feb. 27, he appeared disenchanted that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was married to a white man.
James additionally used YouTube to criticize the mayor. In a video posted Feb. 23, he slammed Adams’ homeless outreach efforts on subways, alluding that he skilled homelessness himself.
In a clip uploaded March 1, he once more criticized Adams’ plans for public security on trains and efforts to assist homeless individuals.
Adams acknowledged the controversial posts on NBC’s “TODAY” present on Wednesday morning.
“I was briefed by the police department on some of his social media posts,” Adams mentioned. “He appears to be all over the place according to the briefing.”
“I just think we need to focus on his apprehension at this time and the police department is going to use those posts and all of evidence that we’re gathering, not only to apprehend him, we also must make sure that he’s prosecuted,” he mentioned.
The mayor’s safety has been beefed up since Tuesday.
New Yorkers began their morning commute Wednesday with few solutions as to the place the shooter could also be and a motive.
In the Tuesday assault, the gunman donned a gasoline masks and set off two smoke canisters then began taking pictures aboard a Manhattan-bound N practice it rolled into the thirty sixth Street Station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, round 8:30 a.m., Sewell mentioned.
The gunman opened fireplace at the very least 33 instances, Sewell mentioned in a Tuesday night press convention.
None of the wounded have life-threatening accidents.
The assault has fueled unease because it comes amid rising violent crime on subways.
Investigators recovered from the subway station a gun with {a magazine} hooked up, two extra magazines, ammunition, a hatchet and a container of what’s believed to be gasoline, police mentioned. They additionally recovered a bag containing client grade fireworks.
Police had mentioned they have been in search of a person believed to be about 5-foot-5 and 180 kilos, carrying a neon orange vest throughout the assault.
“Clearly this person boarded the train and was intent on violence,” Sewell mentioned.