NEW YORK, April 13 (BNA) Late night police chased the gunman who opened fire Tuesday on a Brooklyn subway train, injuring 10 people and once again halting the New York City long journey to get to the site. The pandemic has returned to normal.
The search focused in part on a man who police say rented a truck that may have been linked to the violence, according to the Associated Press.
Investigators confirmed they were not sure if the man, Frank R. James, was responsible for the shooting. But authorities were examining videos on social media in which the 62-year-old denounced the United States as a racist, violent place and at times criticized the city’s mayor, Eric Adams.
“This nation is born in violence, kept alive by violence or the threat of violence, and will die a violent death,” James said in one video clip.
Police Commissioner Kishant Sewell called the posts “disturbing” and officials tightened security for Adams.
Police said the gunman fired smoke grenades in a crowded subway car and then fired at least 33 bullets with a 9mm pistol. Five of the victims were in a critical condition, but they are expected to survive. At least ten survivors of gunshot wounds from smoke inhalation and other injuries were treated.
One of the passengers, Jordan Javier, thought the first crackling sound he heard was a book falling. Then the pop music came on again, people started moving toward the front of the car, and he realized there was smoke, he said.
When the train reached the station, people ran outside and were directed to another train across the platform. Javier said the passengers cried as they walked away from the scene.
“I am grateful to be alive,” he said.
The shooter escaped amid the chaos, leaving behind the rifle, extended magazines, an axe, explosive and unexploded smoke grenades, a black trash can, a rolling cart, gasoline and the key to a U-Haul truck.
Chief Detective James Essig said that key led investigators to James, who has addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin. Isig said the truck was later found, unmanned, near a subway station where investigators determined the gunman had entered the train system.
The garbled and profanity-ridden videos posted by James, who is black, appear to be filled with violent language and bigoted comments, some against other blacks.
One of the videos, posted on April 11, criticized the crime against blacks and says strict action is needed.
“You have kids who go in here and carry machine guns and kill innocents,” James says. “Things will not get better until we make them better,” he said, adding that he believes things will only change if some people are “run over, kicked and tortured” outside their “comfort zone”.
Several videos refer to the New York subway.
A February 20 video said the mayor and governor’s plan to address homelessness and safety in the subway system is “doomed to fail” and refers to himself as a “victim” of the city’s mental health programs. A Jan. 25 video criticizes Adams’ plan to end gun violence.
Adams, who is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, said in a video statement that the city “will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized, even by a single individual.”