Frank James, the man wanted in the investigation into the shooting that occurred Tuesday in the New York subway was arrested Wednesday, after 30 hours of manhunt.
“He had nowhere left to hide.” On Wednesday, New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced the arrest of Frank James, the man wanted in the New York City subway shooting investigation, which occurred on Tuesday in which dozens of people were injured. His name had fairly quickly been released by the police, along with his photo, especially after personal effects were found near the van he had rented in his name. A search by the authorities and several media had also brought to light the disturbing character of this man, who, on social networks, made violent remarks, presenting himself as a black nationalist, and calling for action.
To trace to the suspect, the authorities were helped by the numerous photos and videos taken by the witnesses of the shooting, indicates ABC News. The man, who had apparently taken no precaution to hide himself, had also rented his vehicle with his own credit card, allowing him to be located and also to discover that the weapon used had been purchased in 2011 in Ohio.
“I believe you are looking for me”
Everything went pretty quickly then, since once the call for witnesses passed, the NYPD received several alerts from people saying they had seen him, including one claiming that he was in a McDonald’s in Manhattan. According to some sources cited by ABC, this information could have been provided by the suspect himself. “I believe you are looking for me. I see my picture everywhere in the media, I’ll be at McDonald’s,” said this person. When officers attended, the man was not there. They then proceeded to visit the neighborhood and ended up finding him arresting him, without incident.
“My fellow New Yorkers, we caught it,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday. If the latter welcomed this arrest, he however took the floor to denounce, in particular, the inaction of social networks in the face of the dangerous remarks of the suspect for years.
“We do nothing”
On March 20, he reportedly wrote that the country was “born in violence, survives in violence and will die in violence”. On February 20, following announcements by the mayor of New York to improve the safety of the city’s subway, he reportedly said that these measures “are doomed to failure”. He would have repeatedly indicated that it was time “to take action” and would have prayed for “the death of white people”. But he would also have attacked African-Americans. In videos, he would have wondered in particular if “the black woman should be sterilized by force”, would have called for “more racial profiling” and would have even named one of his publications “KILL OR NOT TO KILL”. He also reportedly railed against all ethnic groups, whites, blacks, Jews, and Latinos, and compared people of color to “a bunch of turds in the toilet,” waiting to be “flushed” down the toilet. sewers by society. He would also have hinted that a race war between whites and blacks is imminent.
In a video posted a month ago, he reportedly said “he had entered the danger zone.” “We look at all the signs around us, which portend violent actions, and we do nothing. I can’t play an artist’s song without it being tagged. So why can’t we identify these dangerous threats. There is some responsibility, I think, on social media industries and companies. We have to look at why we are watching these publications and these threats every day, and no one is giving an early warning sign to the police, ”lamented the mayor quoted by CNN.
Frank James is accused of having fired in the subway at least 33 times and of throwing smoke grenades into the train. Ten people were hit by bullets and nineteen others were taken to hospital following the inhalation of gas in particular. The man is charged with terrorism.