How the hunt for Frank James, the NYC subway shooting suspect, went on

A gunman’s fury in a packed New York City subway car Tuesday morning began a frantic search that ended about 29 hours later – with an investigation spanning multiple states, forensic analysts scrutinizing social media and security video, and a Crime Stoppers hotline tips that lead to the arrest of a suspect on the street.

While federal and state authorities are currently focusing on the underlying motive for why the gunman, who police say they believe is Frank James, 62 years oldopened fire and injured at least 10 people during a rush hour commute, questions remain about how he seems to move undetected through the subway and from Brooklyn to the Village east side of Manhattan while being the subject of an intense manhunt.

At a news conference announcing James’ arrest before 2 p.m. Wednesday, New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said an investigation was “all ready” and the work of hundreds of detectives. New York police helped authorities catch him.

“We were able to shrink his world quickly,” says Sewell. “There’s nowhere left for him to run.”

A police source said a call alerting officers to James’ location was believed to have come from James himself.

With such a wide and intense pursuit, law enforcement experts had hoped he would be found relatively quickly, as a member of the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; United States Marshals Service; and the Department of Homeland Security distributed their vast resources. James is scheduled to appear Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn on charges related to the shooting.

But his arrest requires law enforcement to find out who was behind the attack, which happened Tuesday just before 8:30 a.m. on a subway train near the 36th Street station in his neighbor’s neighborhood. Brooklyn Sunset Park, police said.

The shooter wore a gas mask and a business shirt as he threw two canisters of smoke inside a Manhattan-bound N train as it approached the station. The gunman then fired a volley of 33 bullets, police said, sending panicked passengers racing off the train when it finally stopped. Wounded and bloody people collapsed on the subway platform.

The shooter – described by witnesses as about 5 feet 5 feet tall and weighing 180 pounds – appeared to disappear into the chaos, and police were trying to determine if he ran up the stairs or escaped through the tunnel. .

Investigators said that what could have helped to solve the case sooner, he left behind evidence: the gun used in the shooting, as well as a bag containing a box of smoke and fireworks, one hatch gun, a gas spray bottle and a fuse.

In addition, investigators found a key. A key law enforcement source said a U-Haul van with an invalid license plate was found.

All that remains at the scene are major finds – especially since the cameras operated by the Metropolitan Transport Authority inside the 36th Street station are not functioning properly, law enforcement sources said. said.

“He wasn’t necessarily the brightest light bulb in the circuit,” former New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said of the gunman. “And it’s not we, the police, who are always smart, but the criminals who are so stupid. They help us in so many ways.”

Police said the U-Haul was leased from Philadelphia. They said they were able to identify the name of the customer – Frank R. James – and issue an alert about the truck’s whereabouts. Meanwhile, a man in an area of ​​Brooklyn known as Gravesend chatted with the manager of his building about a U-Haul with Arizona license plates that had been blocking his driveway since Monday.

After hearing that police were searching for a similar U-Haul and realizing that the subway line connects to nearby 36th Street station, the man decided to call 911. NBC New York reported.

The police got off the car. While James was nowhere to be found, they did discover a table, chair and memory foam pillow inside, as if someone had lived in it, senior law enforcement sources said.

Police used security cameras from the area to determine the driver’s description and found grainy video evidence of a person who appeared to be the shooter at a nearby subway station, carrying a vehicle. The bag looks similar to the one that was later recalled.

Meanwhile, as an arm of the investigation is underway, investigators focusing on the gun – a 9mm Glock pistol – are trying to determine its origin.

Using the serial number, they were able to tie the weapon to a pawn shop in Columbus, Ohio. Twelve hours after the subway shooting, ATF officials said, they were told it was purchased in 2011, as was the buyer: Frank R. James.

Additional evidence helped transform James from a person of interest to a prime suspect for law enforcement on Wednesday morning.

In addition to Philadelphia, authorities said, James also had an address in Wisconsin. His exact relationship to New York or why he’s in Brooklyn was not immediately clear.

Police said Wednesday that a criminal record includes nine arrests in New York between 1992 and 1998 on charges of possession of stolen equipment, sex offences and service theft, as well. like the three previous arrests in New Jersey in the 1990s and 2007 for trespassing, petty theft and disorderly conduct. Officials say all charges are misdemeanors, which will not stop him from buying a gun.

After learning his identity, police confirmed social media posts they said he had made, including a video from the Prophet of Truth 88 YouTube channel, a platform where he appeared appeared to express controversial views and continued lengthy profanities. He also seems to talk about death in some videos and wishes to “destroy” certain groups of people in one clip.

In a video posted Monday, James appeared to say he had experienced a desire to kill, but he didn’t want to go to jail. In a photo uploaded March 18, he has stated that he suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

According to Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD detective and professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, keeping track of who knows James is crucial.

“We also wanted to make sure that no one else was helping him,” Giacalone said.

But what James did from the time he was shot until he was arrested must also be investigated and clarified.

Police said Wednesday that James escaped the shooting by boarding a train at the station and exiting after just one stop. But nearly an hour after the shooting happened, at about 9:15 a.m., James was back on the subway in another part of Brooklyn known as Park Slope, police said.

At some point, he traveled to Manhattan’s East Village. Someone tipped Crime Stoppers that a man matching his description was inside a McDonald’s there. But when police got there, he was gone, said James Essig, NYPD Detective Superintendent.

Police sources said they believe James also called the tip line saying he was at a McDonald’s.

“This is Frank. You guys are looking for me. … My phone is dying,” the caller said, according to sources.

Police scoured the scene and arrested James nearby without incident, Essig said.

Big Lee Lloyd, whose East Village bar, The Hard Swallow, is located a block from where police arrested James, said the arrest of the suspect “went too fast”.

“He had no trouble at all,” said Lloyd. “They put him in the team car and took him away.”

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here