NEW YORK – After calling Crime Stoppers on himself, the man suspected of shooting ten people dead on a Brooklyn subway train was apprehended and charged with a federal terrorist offense, according to law enforcement sources assigned to the case.
Frank R. James, 62, was taken into custody around 30 hours after the devastation on a rush-hour train that also left five people critically injured and the whole city on edge.
“My fellow New Yorkers, we got him,” Mayor Eric Adams tweeted soon after the arrest.
According to Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, James was awaiting arraignment on a charge of terrorism or other violent attacks against public transit networks, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.
James has spoken against racism and violence in the United States, as well as criticizing mental health care in New York City, in recent YouTube videos, and he has questioned Adams’ policies on mental health and subway safety.
However, the reason for the subway assault is unknown, and there is no evidence that James had any foreign or domestic terror organizations, according to Peace.
At the time of writing it was unclear if James, who is from New York but has lately resided in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, has an attorney or has someone else who can speak for him. Any mail should be delivered to a post office box, according to the notice that has been stuck on the door of James’ Milwaukee apartment.
Immediately after being captured, James, dressed in a blue t-shirt and brown jeans with his hands tied behind his back, did not answer to reporters yelling questions as he was escorted by officers to a waiting car.
Police had launched a wide-ranging search for him, publicizing his identity and sending out mobile notifications across New York’s five boroughs.
Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said they received an information that he was in a McDonald’s in Manhattan’s East Village area on Wednesday.
James was the person who had called, and he requested authorities to come get him, according to two law enforcement officials. They talked on the condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the current investigation.
Officers arrived to find James gone, but he was quickly located on a busy corner nearby.
Witness Aleksei Korobow claimed four police cars sped around a corner – cops then leapt out, and a cooperative James was quickly handcuffed in front of a crowd of spectators.
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said authorities “were able to shrink his world quickly,” and that “there was nowhere left for him to run.”
