NEW YORK (AP) — A man wanted in an attack on a subway train in Brooklyn that left 10 people wounded by gunfire was arrested Wednesday afternoon, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.
Frank R. James, 62, was taken into custody in Manhattan, the official said. Further details, including the arresting agency, weren’t immediately available.
Investigators had announced Tuesday afternoon that they were searching for James, who was believed to have rented a van possibly connected to the violence. By Wednesday morning, New York authorities said he was a suspect in the shooting itself.
Authorities were examining social media videos in which the 62-year-old decried the U.S. as a racist place awash in violence and railed against New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams.
The gunman sent off smoke grenades in a crowded subway car and then fired at least 33 shots with a 9 mm handgun, police said. Five gunshot victims were in critical condition but all 10 wounded in the shooting were expected to survive. At least a dozen others who escaped gunshot wounds were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries.
The shooter escaped in the chaos, but left behind numerous clues, including the gun, ammunition magazines, a hatchet, smoke grenades, gasoline and the key to a U-Haul van.
That key led investigators to James, a New York City-area native who had more recent addresses in Philadelphia and Wisconsin.
Federal investigators determined the gun used in the shooting was purchased by James at a pawn shop — a licensed firearms dealer — in the Columbus, Ohio, area in 2011, said a law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The van was found, unoccupied, near a station where investigators determined the gunman had entered the subway system.
