Accused NYC subway shooter intends to plead guilty to terrorism charges, according to court documents

By Lauren del Valle, CNN

The man accused of shooting passengers at random on a Brooklyn subway in April intends to plead guilty to terrorism charges, according to court documents.

In a letter to the court Wednesday, court-appointed attorneys for the defendant, Frank James, indicated that “he wishes to schedule a guilty plea to the superseding indictment.”

A grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned a superseding indictment filed last week which charges James with 10 counts — one for each gunshot victim — of committing a terrorist attack or other violence against a mass transportation system, and one count of discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

He faces up to life in prison on each of the 11 counts in the new indictment, according to prosecutors. A change of plea hearing has been scheduled for January 3, according to court filings.

His court filing comes eight months after James allegedly set off a smoke device and opened fire at passengers riding a subway train in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park during the morning commute. Ten people were wounded by gunfire and others were injured by the smoke, yet miraculously nobody was killed.

Hourari Benkada, 27, who was shot in the back of the knee, said at the time that he sat next to a man with a duffel bag and reflective vest who let off a “smoke bomb” on the train.

“And all you see (is) smoke — black smoke … going off, and then people bum-rushing to the back,” Benkada said. “This pregnant woman was in front of me. I was trying to help her. I didn’t know there were shots at first. I just thought it was a black smoke bomb.

“She said, ‘I’m pregnant with a baby.’ I hugged her. And then the bum-rush continued. I got pushed, and that’s when I got shot in the back of my knee.”

A handgun, a credit card and a set of keys left at the scene all tied back to James, leading to a manhunt for his whereabouts. He was arrested a day later walking around in Manhattan’s Lower East Side after he called authorities to turn himself in and was flagged down by bystanders.

James has a lengthy criminal history and had posted rambling videos on a YouTube channel in which he talked about violence and mass shootings and said he’s thought about killing people who have presumably hurt him.

The subway shooting represented a long-feared nightmare scenario for New York City, which relies heavily on its mass transit system. Subway ridership cratered during the Covid-19 pandemic as many workers stayed home, and ridership has not returned to its pre-pandemic levels, in part due to wariness over an increase in violence on the transit system.

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CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.