Accused subway shooter held on terrorism charge

Accused subway shooter Frank James was held Thursday on a terrorism charge for opening fire "in cold blood at terrified passengers" Tuesday on a crowded Brooklyn train, wounding as many as 30 people, prosecutors said.

James, 62, who was born in New York but lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, faces one count of committing a terrorist or other violent attack against a mass transportation system. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

“The defendant terrifyingly opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way this city hasn't seen in more than 20 years," Sara Winik, an assistant U.S. attorney, said in Brooklyn federal court Thursday. 

"The defendant's attack was premeditated. It was carefully planned and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city. The defendant's mere presence outside federal custody presents a serious risk of danger to the community," she said in asking that he be held without bail.

Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann honored Winik's request. James' defense attorneys asked that he undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

James wore black pull-on tennis shoes, glasses and a khaki jail uniform in court. He sat unhandcuffed, his hands folded in front of him except to sign papers.

Mia Eisner-Grynberg, his lawyer from the Federal Defenders of New York, cautioned against a rush to judgment and said initial accounts tend to be wrong.

“Yesterday, Mr. James saw his photograph on the news. He called CrimeStoppers to help. He told them where he was … Mr. James is entitled to a fair trial," Eisner-Grynberg said.

Prosecutors: 'Case is strong'

In court papers, prosecutors said "the weight of the evidence in this case is strong," including video footage of James, and his bank card and cellphone. Also recovered: a container with gasoline, a torch, a propane tank, fireworks with explosive powder, .223 caliber ammunition that is used with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and a Glock 17 pistol that James allegedly used in the subway car, prosecutors said.

"He fired approximately 33 rounds in cold blood at terrified passengers who had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide," the papers said. "Numerous passengers could have been killed."

Prosecutors also described as a "disguise" the yellow hard hat and orange work jacket with reflective tape that he wore during the alleged attack and then "discarded in the chaos that followed."

In asking for James to be held without bail, prosecutors said, "The defendant’s criminal conduct was extraordinarily serious. The victims who boarded the defendant’s subway car on the morning of April 12 could not have predicted the horror that would await them on their morning commute."

James was arrested Wednesday less than 30 hours after he allegedly donned a gas mask, released two canisters of smoke and started shooting in a subway car on the N line in Brooklyn during morning rush hour.

After a massive search and tips that flowed in to Crime Stoppers, the police captured him in Manhattan’s East Village near a McDonald’s.

Investigators tracked him in part from weapons and personal items left at the crime scene — including the gun allegedly used in the shooting, extended magazines, gasoline and four smoke grenades — and then asked rattled New Yorkers to help in the search.

Called police on himself

But it was James himself who called police, a law enforcement source said.

The call came Wednesday to the tip line from a male identifying himself as Frank James and saying that “he wanted to turn himself in,” according to another law enforcement official.

The caller said, “I heard you are looking for me,” according to the official. Cops then located James by the McDonald’s and took him into custody.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared: “We got him.”

But the attack has rattled many New Yorkers at a time when the new mayor — a former transit cop himself — is trying to curb crime and homelessness in the subway system as the city tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and lure workers and tourists back.

On Tuesday morning, James boarded the N train at the Kings Highway stop and rode it for eight more until it approached the 36th Street Station in Brooklyn, NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said. James then donned a gas mask and at 8:26 a.m. opened two canisters of smoke before firing 33 bullets, hitting 10 people, Essig said.

Thirteen others also suffered injuries. All are expected to survive, officials said.

Immediately after the shooting, James boarded a downtown R train, traveled one stop and exited at the 25th Street Station, Essig said.

The NYPD said it has since recovered video of James, in the orange reflective jacket and construction helmet later recovered in the trash, entering the Kings Highway Station in Brooklyn two hours before Tuesday’s shooting.

The subway station is three blocks from where police found a U-Haul with Arizona plates that James rented in Philadelphia, authorities said. Police recovered a key to the U-Haul at the scene.

James has at least a dozen prior misdemeanor arrests over the past 30 years in New York, New Jersey and other states, authorities said. The charges include possession of burglary tools, criminal sex act, theft of service, criminal tampering, reckless endangerment, trespassing, larceny and disorderly conduct, prosecutors and police said.

The suspect, who also has an address in Philadelphia, purchased the Glock 17 pistol used in the shooting at a pawnshop in Ohio in 2011, federal agents said. James, who has no felony convictions, was able to legally purchase the firearm.