A 62 year old man was identified as a person of interest in the New York subway shooting on Tuesday, when a gunman in a construction vest donned a gas mask, set off a smoke canister, and shot at least 10 people. A New York Times report identified him as Frank R. James, and highlighted lengthy rants in which he expressed a range of bigoted views in a variety of topics. The publication reported that the police had released a screenshot of James, taken from a YouTube video posted on this channel, and that a credit card with James’s name on it was found at the scene of the shooting, along with a van that he had rented.
THE WEEK could not independently verify the veracity of the report.
The police found an unoccupied U-Haul van in Brooklyn matching the description and license plate number of the vehicle being sought in connection with the shooting. That led them to James.
The shooter was described as dangerous, after leaving wounded commuters bleeding on a Brooklyn platform while others ran screaming. Five people were in critical but condition but expected to survive. At least 16 in all were injured in some way in the attack that began on a subway train that pulled into the 36th Street station in the borough's Sunset Park neighbourhood.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the attack was not being investigated as terrorism, but that she was not ruling out anything. The shooter has not been identified and the motive remains unknown. My subway door opened into calamity. It was smoke and blood and people screaming, eyewitness Sam Carcamo told radio station 1010 WINS, saying he saw a gigantic billow of smoke pouring out of the N train once the door opened.
