New Yorkers faced an uneasy commute Wednesday as authorities feverishly hunted for the man who sparked terror on the massive transit system by opening fire on a Brooklyn subway car and platform one day earlier.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, said police will blanket the system so commuters feel safe as the shooter remains at large.
“We’ll have a real omnipresence and we’re asking New Yorkers to be vigilant,” Mr. Adams told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Ten people were shot and more than a dozen suffered other injuries during the Tuesday incident.
The mayor said Frank R. James, 62, is considered a suspect in the incident and not just a “person of interest,” as police described him late Tuesday.
Mr. James, who has previous addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia, posted videos on social media criticizing Mr. Adams and ranting about race and violence.
“There’s no evidence that indicates at this time there was an accomplice. It appears as though he was acting alone,” Mr. Adams, who is self-isolating this week after testing positive for the coronavirus, said of the gunman.
The Transport Workers Union Local 100, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the NYC Police Foundation are offering a combined $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the shooter.
“This cold-blooded criminal must be identified and taken off the streets right away. He must be brought to justice for this horrific act of violence. Riders need to feel safe. My members need to feel safe. We don’t just dip in and out of the system. We spend entire shifts down there every day and night. This guy has to be apprehended,” TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano said.
Mr. James was reportedly arrested at least three times in the past.
Records related to those arrests, including phone numbers he might have called while in custody, could provide police with some clues about his orbit, according to Joseph Giacalone, a former New York City police sergeant and adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Mr. James also released a series of alarming videos in which he said he wanted to kill people but didn’t want to go to prison. He also said he had post-traumatic stress and, in one video, complained that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the recently confirmed Supreme Court justice, is married to a White man.
Mr. Giacalone said the digital footprint from those videos, including IP addresses, could help investigators track Mr. James’ path to New York City.
CNN reported the videos provided some insight: Mr. James left his home in Milwaukee on March 20 and arrived in Philadelphia on March 20 after stops in Fort Wayne, Indiana; Pittsburgh; and Newark, New Jersey.
The shooting is heaping pressure on Mr. Adams, who took office in January, to tackle crime after he ran on a public safety platform last year.
Mr. Adams said he is trying to chip away at the problem with a reestablished anti-gun unit and efforts to reform a “revolving door” criminal justice system.
Transit crimes have spiked in the first months of 2022 compared to last year, however, and a 40-year-old woman was killed when a man pushed her in front of a subway train in February.
“First it was COVID, then it was a surge in subway crime, and now this. It’s been a tough haul trying to get people back to work and this isn’t going to help. It is not a perception that the subway is bad — it’s a reality,” Mr. Giacalone told The Washington Times. “Top police officials and many politicians took the train today, most for a photo op. Let’s see if they continue to do it in the coming weeks — I doubt it.”
The subway system is running full service on all its lines Wednesday, including the 36th Street station where the shooting occurred. Mr. Adams said he remains devoted to improving the system.
“I use the subway system often. I believe it plays a vital role in our city. It is crucial to the recovery of this city,” the mayor told WNYC radio’s “Morning Edition.”
Mr. Adams said he might rely on groundbreaking technology to make the system safer. He said there are scanners that can detect guns without stopping everyone and searching their belongings. It is used at ballparks and other venues so the city will explore whether that can be used in the subway system.
The city stumbled in using basic technology, however. Cameras in the 36th Street station that might have captured the Tuesday shooting were not working, prompting outrage.
“We want to dig into how long they were out,” the mayor told Fox 5. “We are concerned that the cameras were out and we are asking for answers to that question.”
The cameras are controlled by the MTA, not the police, and the city is trying to figure out if other cameras are malfunctioning, according to Mr. Adams.
“It seems as if the speed cameras and the red-light cameras work fine,” Mr. Giacalone said. “This is ridiculous. The cameras are supposed to provide a sense of security for people using the system.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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