By Aaron Miller-
The manhunt for 62-year-old Frank R James is underway, after police identified him as a “person of interest” in the Newyork subway mass shooting, but who Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday said was a suspect.
Police found a key to a U-Haul van at the scene which authorities said James rented in Philadelphia, as well as a 9mm semiautomatic handgun and extended magazines, a hatchet, fireworks, a liquid believed to be gasoline, a black garbage can, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades.
The key from a U-Haul van he is believed to have rented in Philadelphia was found at the scene, police said, together with the credit card used to pay for it, yielding Mr James’s name.
At least four schoolchildren between the ages of 12 to 16 are believed to be among the injured passengers requiring medical treatment after suffering from bullet wounds, smoke inhalation, falls and panic. Five of the 10 people shot were reported to be in critical but stable condition, and 13 were injured.
Incredibly, all the victims of the senseless shooting survived, either because the gun man was an amateur when it comes to guns or he deliberately tried to avoid .
Authorities are offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the gunman who was wearing a gas mask as he fired 33 shots on the packed train, in what is the worst violent incident on public transit in recent history.
James, who has addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia, has posted dozens of bizarre rambling videos on social media in recent years in which he has expressed a range of bigoted views on topics ranging from mental health services, death and race to Ukraine. Police released a screenshot of James taken from a YouTube video posted by a channel belonging to the username prophetoftruth88.
In a video posted last month, James singled out the city’s new mayor, Eric Adams, by name, criticizing his recently announced public safety policies targeting homeless people in the subway. The security detail for Adams, who is currently at home recovering from Covid, will be strengthened in light of the videos, according to New York’s police commissioner, Keechant Sewell.
In a video posted on Monday, James said he had experienced the desire to kill people but he didn’t want to go to jail.
In one uploaded on 18 March from a rented white van, James sounds relaxed as he rambles about a range of issues including moving out of his apartment, workplace troubles, the state of humanity, the climate crisis and overpopulation.
In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, one neighbor told the New York Times that James walked with a limp, and described him as quiet and unthreatening, while another said he was grumpy, standoffish and weird.
Police investigators found a 9mm semi-automatic handgun at the scene, along with extended magazines, a hatchet, both detonated and undetonated smoke grenades, gasoline and the key to the U-Haul van.