At least 10 people were shot and several more were injured.
Ten people were shot at a New York City subway station during the Monday morning commute, and the suspect is still at large. We’re taking a look at this shocking act of violence — and how the suspect was finally taken into custody:
How was Frank James arrested?
After a 30-hour citywide manhunt, police brought the suspect into custody. Frank James, 62, was arrested at a busy intersection in Manhattan and charged with committing a terrorist act on a mass transit system. James will make his initial court appearance on April 14, and could face a life sentence if he’s ultimately convicted.
Police said that after opening fire, James crossed the station platform, boarded a train, and evaded authorities for over a day. James was apprehended after he called the police tips hotline Crime Stoppers to tell authorities he was at a McDonald’s in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, sources told CNN. The call dropped within moments, and was reportedly followed by a 911 call from someone else who said they’d spotted James.
“We were able to shrink his world quickly,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. “There was nowhere left for him to run.”
“As alleged, the defendant committed a heinous and premeditated attack on ordinary New Yorkers during their morning subway commute,” Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement. “All New Yorkers have the right to expect that they will be safe as they travel throughout our great city and use our vital transportation systems.”
James became a “person of interest” Tuesday after investigators found his credit card and a key to a U-Haul van, which he appeared to have rented in Philadelphia, at the scene.
Sewell said there may be some social media posts connected to James in which he mentions homelessness, New York, and Mayor Adams. The mayor’s security detail was increased out of an abundance of caution.
There’s no known motive for the attack, though officials believe it was planned.
“We will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized, even by a single individual,” New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams said. “NYPD is searching for the suspect at large, and we will find him.”
What happened?
During the morning rush hour, a shooter donned a gas mask, threw a gas canister and opened fire on a train arriving at a subway station in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, police said. Chaos erupted in the smoke-filled station as the suspect fired 33 times. Frightened passengers ran from the train and the wounded were seen bleeding on the train platform.
“My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming,” one witness said.
Sewell said on Tuesday that the attack wasn’t being investigated as terrorism, but that they weren’t “ruling out anything.”
Investigators found a Glock 9 mm handgun, three extended magazines, two detonated smoke grenades, two non-detonated smoke grenades, a hatchet and a U-Haul key at the scene. The key led to authorities finding a U-Haul van in Brooklyn.
A source told the Associated Press that the suspect is believed to have had at least two high-capacity magazines. Investigators also believe the weapon jammed, stopping the gunman from continuing to fire.
What’s known about the victims of the subway shooting in NYC?
At least 10 people were shot. Five of the victims are in critical condition but expected to survive. An additional 13 others were treated for smoke inhalation, wounds resulting from shrapnel, and other conditions.
President Biden applauded the “first responders who jumped into action, including civilians, who didn’t hesitate to help their fellow passengers.” One such rider told the New York Times that he carried a man who was shot in the leg out of the train station and into an ambulance.
“He was so scared,” the commuter said. “He was screaming ‘Ayudame!’” (Spanish for “help me.”)
How did the hunt for the NYC subway gunman begin?
Police began an expansive search for the shooter, who wasn’t captured on video because at least one security camera at the train station had malfunctioned, Adams said. NYPD canvassed across 17 blocks surrounding the station, interviewing residents for any potential leads, the NYT reports. NYC agencies offered a joint $50,000 reward for info leading to the suspect’s arrest.
Officials said the suspect was wearing a green construction vest over a gray sweatshirt during the attack. He was described as a Black man about 5-feet-5-inches tall and 170 pounds.
