Brooklyn shooting update: Frank James ordered to be held behind bars in first federal court appearance

At Wednesday’s press conference, officials revealed details about how they finally tracked down Frank James following an almost 30-hour manhunt for the suspected shooter.

NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said that Mr James’ last known location was in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighbourhood before tipsters led officers to Manhattan.

“We tracked Mr James, and his last known whereabouts was 7th Avenue and 9th Street in Park Slope, entering the subway,” he said.

The sighting at Park Slope was at around 9.15am on Tuesday morning.

The NYPD’s Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said that a member of the public called in a tip to CrimeStoppers saying that they had spotted Mr James in a McDonald’s at 6th Street and First Avenue in the East Village.

When officers arrived at the fast food joint, Mr James was no longer there.

“They start driving around the neighborhood looking for him. They see him on the corner of St. Marks [Place] and First [Avenue] and they take him into custody,” he said.

It is not clear where Mr James was between 9.15am on Tuesday and his arrest at around 1.40pm on Wednesday.

The 9mm Glock handgun used in Tuesday’s mass shooting was bought by suspect Frank James at a federal firearms licensee in Ohio back in 2011, according to authorities.

“The timeline of this gun’s life spanned 16 years and five states,” said Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives John DeVito.

“Late yesterday evening, about 12 hours after that attack ATF agents were able to close the loop on that timespan.”

He added: “We tied that gun utilised in the shooting to our target and now we have our target in custody.”

When asked how he managed to buy a gun with a long arrest sheet, officials said he did not have a federal record.

Suspected shooter Frank James tipped the police off about his own whereabouts, by calling CrimeStoppers to say he was at a McDonald’s restaurant on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, according to sources.

Two law enforcement sources told CNN that it was Mr James who provided the information that led to his own capture.

When investigators were asked during Wednesday’s press conference about reports that Mr James was the one to tip off Crimestoppers, officials said they were looking into who made the call.

The NYPD’s Chief of Department Kenneth Corey said that call was made to CrimeStoppers saying that Mr James was at a McDonald’s at 6th Street and First Avenue.

When officers arrived at the fast food joint, Mr James was no longer there, he said.

“They start driving around the neighborhood looking for him. They see him on the corner of St. Marks [Place] and First [Avenue] and they take him into custody,” he said.

Subway shooting suspect Frank James was seen on video being led out of the 9th Precinct in Manhattan and taken into federal custody ahead of his first court appearance on Thursday.

Mr James is scheduled to appear in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday on a federal terrorism charge.

Accused terrorist Frank James bought the gas mask he sported during Tuesday’s attack on eBay, law enforcement sources told CNN.

An eBay spokesperson told the outlet that “while we cannot comment on individual users’ activities, when contacted by law enforcement agencies, we fully cooperate and work closely with them to assist with their investigations”.

The suspect allegedly put on the gas mask before setting off a smoke bomb and opening fire inside the subway carriage.

Prior to Tuesday’s shooting, Frank James posted more than 400 videos on his YouTube account Prophet of Truth 88, including unhinged rants about racism, homelessess, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and police brutality.

The account, which was terminated on Wednesday for “violating Community Guidelines”, offers a chilling glimpse into Mr James’ migratory life: one seemingly without contact with friends or family, in which he explained to his online audience all the ways in which the world has wronged him, and how he intended to pay it back.

The Independent’s Bevan Hurley has the full story:

“Within 12 hours of the shooting, Mayor and former police officer Eric Adams declared his intent to double the number of police on the subway,” writes Joshua Potash.

“His announcement failed to note that he had already added 1,000 NYPD officers to the subway system during his first three months in office — bringing the total to 3,500 police officers who failed to stop Tuesday’s mass shooting.”

Read Joshua Potash’s Voices piece here:

Watch New York City Mayor Eric Adams announce the arrest of alleged gunman Frank James on Wednesday.

“We got him,” he told New Yorkers remotely from Gracie Mansion, where he is isolating with Covid-19.

The mayor’s own security was stepped up following Tuesday’s attack after videos came to light online of Mr James ranting about the Democrat.

Accused shooter Frank James posted an expletive-filled video rant on his YouTube page Prophet of Truth 88 just one day before the attack on a Brooklyn subway,

In the video, titled DOMESTICATED AVERAGES, Mr James spoke about how he identified with those who committed acts of extreme violence.

“I’ve been through a lot of s***, where I can say I wanted to kill people. I wanted to watch people die right in front of my f***ing face immediately,” he says in the footage, which has now been removed from YouTube.

“But I thought about the fact that, hey man, I don’t want to go to no f***ing prison.”

The motive for Tuesday’s terror attack remains unclear as questions continue to mount over whether the Sunset Park community was specifically targeted by the gunman.

Officials said on Wednesday that the investigation was still ongoing to determine the motive behind Tuesday’s attack.

NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said that investigators were looking into the social media posts of accused shooter Frank James.

Mr James posted more than 400 videos on a YouTube channel where he rambled about mental health services, subways, gun violence and racism.

Meanwhile, questions are being asked as to whether the Sunset Park neighbourhood was chosen by the shooter for the attack.

Sunset Park is home to a large community of working class Asian and Latin American immigrants.

New York City’s Asian community members have fallen victim to a growing number of hate crimes over the last year - something that many have attributed to the anti-Asian rhetoric pushed by former President Donald Trump during the Covidi-19 pandemic.