‘Person of interest’ in Brooklyn subway train shooting is now a suspect, NYPD says
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By Pervaiz Shallwani, Shimon Prokupecz, Laura Ly, Artemis Moshtaghian, Travis Caldwell and Kristina Sgueglia, CNN
The 62-year-old man who police described as a “person of interest” in the Brooklyn subway shooting on Tuesday is now being considered a suspect, the New York Police Department said on Wednesday.
An intensive hunt is underway for the man, identified as Frank James, who police say is responsible for the attack. It was not immediately clear what evidence led to the change in his status.
The manhunt comes a day after a gunman set off smoke grenades and fired a handgun 33 times on a crowded subway train making its way toward the 36th Street station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park. The attack left 29 people injured, including 10 who were shot, though none of the injuries appear to be life-threatening, officials said.
LIVE UPDATES: Brooklyn subway station shooting
The motive of the shooting is not yet known. The attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism but authorities have not ruled out anything, NYPD commissioner Keechant Sewell said.
Investigators found a Glock 9 mm handgun, three extended magazines, two detonated smoke grenades, two non-detonated smoke grenades, a hatchet and keys to a U-Haul van at the scene, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said.
A credit card that was used to rent the U-Haul was also found, two law enforcement sources told CNN. Two officials told CNN they believe the gun jammed during the shooting.
The U-Haul van was rented by James, police said, connecting him to the incident. The van was recovered near the station and has been cleared by the NYPD’s bomb squad, police said.
James has addresses in Wisconsin as well as Philadelphia, where the U-Haul was rented, Essig said.
He and his family did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
The subway shooting represents a long-feared nightmare scenario for New York City, which relies heavily on its mass transit system. Subway ridership cratered during the Covid 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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How the shooting unfolded
People aboard the train car on Tuesday morning said smoke filled the car and gunshots rang out, causing people to push their way to the other side of the train in panic and confusion.
Hourari Benkada, 27, who was shot in the back of the knee, said he thinks he was sitting next to the shooter.
Speaking from a hospital bed Tuesday, Benkada said he’d gotten into the last car of the N train and sat next to a man with a duffel bag who appeared to be wearing an MTA vest. The man let off a “smoke bomb,” said Benkada, a housekeeping manager at the New Yorker Hotel.
“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.”
The shooting started about 20 seconds after the train took off from the 59th Street station and felt like it lasted for nearly 2 minutes, Benkada said. Benkada heard other people in pain, but couldn’t see them or the suspect because of the smoke, he said.
Evidence collection for the incident “will take some time,” according to Michael Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office. He added that he was grateful for the residents and eyewitnesses who have already stepped forward with information.
Investigators have cell phone video from an eyewitness that shows the suspect, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Within the station, surveillance video may not be available. A preliminary review indicates there was some sort of malfunction with the camera system at the station, Mayor Eric Adams told WCBS Radio.
The MTA system has almost 10,000 cameras, including almost 600 cameras on the Brooklyn section where the attack took place, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“We’re going to work with the NYPD to capture all that video to find out where this criminal may have come in or out of the system,” Lieber said. “And we’re also just reviewing with everybody who is involved, all of the information.”
Suspect talked about mass shootings in rambling videos
James, the suspect in the shooting, has been linked to multiple rambling videos posted on a YouTube channel. A screenshot from one of the videos was used on an NYPD Crimestoppers flyer seeking information about the shooting.
James talked about violence and mass shootings in the videos, including one uploaded Monday in which he said he’s thought about killing people who have presumably hurt him.
“I’ve been through a lot of s**t, where I can say I wanted to kill people. I wanted to watch people die right in front of my f**king face immediately. But I thought about the fact that, hey man, I don’t want to go to no f**king prison,” he said.
In another video posted last week, James, who is Black, rants about abuse in churches and racism in the workplace, using misogynistic and racist language.
Many of the videos that James uploaded included references to violence, including at a set group of people he believed had maligned him, in addition to broad societal and racial groups that he appeared to hate.
In another video posted last month to the same channel, James said that he had post-traumatic stress. In that video, James said he left his home in Milwaukee on March 20. During the trip eastward, he said he was heading to the “danger zone.”
“You know, it’s triggering a lot of negative thoughts of course,” he said in the video. “I do have a severe case of post-traumatic stress.”
A $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspect has been offered, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which put up the money with the Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the New York City Police Foundation.
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CNN’s Brynn Gingras, Mark Morales, Rob Frehse, Sharif Paget, Caroll Alvarado, Nicole Chavez, Alaa Elassar, Amir Vera, Eric Levenson, Jason Hanna, Peter Nickeas, Yon Pomrenze, Elizabeth Wolfe, Chris Boyette, David Shortell, Paul P. Murphy, Juan Alejandro Olarte-Cortes, Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand contributed to this report.
