On Friday, Mayor Eric Adams is scheduled to hold a virtual news conference to thank front-line workers for their handling of the shooting and its aftermath.
In all, 29 people were hospitalized after the alleged shooter, Frank James, tossed smoke grenades and fired 33 bullets into a train car of passengers during the morning rush hour in Brooklyn on Tuesday.
Ten people were shot, and 19 others suffered injuries related to smoke inhalation, falling down or having a panic attack, officials said. The four victims who remained hospitalized Thursday were in stable condition, according to hospital representatives.
In James’ court appearance Thursday –a day after he was arrested in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood– the 62-year-old was denied bail and did not enter a plea on charges of violating a law that prohibits terrorism and violent attacks on mass transportation.
James, who’s Black, said in the videos that he suffered from post-traumatic stress and supported hatred of African Americans and other people he believed had maligned him.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Adams said the city wants to enhance security in the subway system, noting the process would entail examining technology that could detect whether somebody is carrying a gun.
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Prosecutors: Attack was ‘premeditated and carefully planned’
At James’ hearing, Assistant US Attorney Sara Winik described the attack as “premeditated and carefully planned.”
And in a letter submitted by U.S. Attorney Breon Peace to a federal judge, prosecutors also argued that James was a flight risk and a danger to the community.
“The defendant committed a premediated mass shooting on the New York City subway system and then fled the scene, with a stockpile of ammunition and other dangerous items stowed in his storage unit,” the letter says.
Defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg cautioned against a rush to judgment.
“We are all still learning about what happened on that train,” she said outside the courthouse. “What we do know is this: Yesterday, Mr. James saw his photograph on the news. He called Crime Stoppers to help. He told them where he was. Initial press and police reports in cases like this one are often inaccurate. Mr. James is entitled to a fair trial, and we will ensure that he receives one.”
The shooting James is accused of carrying out took place as a train was traveling from the 59th Street station to 36th Street station in Brooklyn just before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The suspected shooter was wearing a yellow hard hat, an orange reflective jacket and a surgical mask as he set off at least one smoke device and began shooting at people with a Glock pistol, according to a criminal complaint. Witnesses saw the suspect wearing a gas mask, the complaint stated.
Passengers panicked as they tried to escape the smoke engulfing the train by running to one end of the car.
The doors wouldn’t open until two minutes later, when the train reached the 36th Street station, and passengers fled the train as the smoke followed them, video shows.
Other victims with bloody wounds fell to the platform as they shouted for medical care. Photos taken at the scene show the subway platform streaked with blood and people sitting and lying on the platform following the shooting.
The evidence connecting the suspect to the shooting
James was initially named a person of interest after authorities determined he rented the U-Haul van whose keys were found at the scene.
Later, investigators declared him a suspect Wednesday morning after they learned he bought the gun left at the scene.
Authorities also found a bag containing a Glock handgun, a plastic container with gasoline, a torch, a U-Haul key and multiple bank cards, as well as another bag containing fireworks, the complaint states.
James bought the gun in Ohio in 2011, the bank cards had James’ name on them and the U-Haul key was connected to a van James had rented in Philadelphia, according to the complaint.
A neon left on the subway platform had a receipt for a storage unit in Philadelphia registered to James, the complaint states.
Federal prosecutors believe he went to the storage facility filled with ammunition and weapons the evening before the attack, according to court documents. A search of the unit revealed additional ammunition and “a threaded 9mm pistol barrel that allows for a silencer or suppressor to be attached.”
He was arrested Wednesday afternoon after he called in a tip to Crime Stoppers on himself, sources have told CNN.
Another tip also came in after James was spotted by passersby.
Jack Griffin, 17, said he was on a field trip with his high school photography class when he spotted James sitting on a bench on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Griffin submitted the tip to NYPD’s Crime Stoppers around 10:30 a.m. And although James wasn’t captured for several more hours, the NYPD later told him the tip helped narrow their net of his whereabouts, he said.
“It’s crazy. I was looking for things to shoot, and I found probably one of the most wanted people,” he said.
CNN’s Caroll Alvarado, Chris Boyette, Travis Caldwell, Alaa Elassar, Rob Frehse, Jason Hanna, Chris Hippensteel, Artemis Moshtaghian, Paul P. Murphy, Peter Nickeas, Sara Ashley O’Brien, Sharif Paget, Yon Pomrenze, Kara Scannell, Pervaiz Shallwani and Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.
