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Who is Frank R James? ‘Person of interest’ in Brooklyn shooting made online threats

The keys of a U-Haul van that Frank James rented were reportedly found at the scene of the shooting in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: A 'person of interest' has been named by New York City police in the shooting aboard a subway train in Brooklyn on Tuesday, April 12, in which 10 people were shot and 13 others injured. A man wearing a gas mask threw two smoke canisters and also opened fire aboard a subway car on the N train while it was approaching the 36th Street Station in Brooklyn in the morning.

Frank R James, 62, has been named a 'person of interest' in the shooting. At a news conference on April 12, New York Police Chief of Detectives James W. Essig said that the keys of a U-Haul van that James rented were found at the scene of the shooting in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood. "We are looking for Frank James," he said. "We know he rented that U-Haul van."

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Not much is known about James except that he has addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia. He has not been named a suspect yet. The van was rented in Philadelphia, and police want to know if he witnessed the attack, Essig said.

Who is Frank James?

James had allegedly railed against Mayor Adams and made threatening rants on social media. “Mr. Mayor, I’m a victim of your mental health program,” James had said in a video. “I’m 63 now full of hate, full of anger, and full of bitterness.” He also accused Adams for not doing enough to combat homelessness. “Eric Adams, Eric Adams: What are you doing brother? What’s happening with this homeless situation,” he said while referring to the subway. “Every car I went to was loaded with homeless people. It was so bad I couldn’t even stand. I had to keep moving from car to car.”

In the videos, James allegedly said that he had a diagnosed mental illness. “What’s going on in that place is violence,” he said about a facility he claimed to be getting care from. “Not physical violence,” he said, “but the kind of violence a child experiences in grade school… that would make him go get a gun and shooting mothe********.”

He also ranted about race issues and said that the Ukraine invasion proved that Black people were treated with contempt in society. “These white motherfu–ers, this is what they do,” he said. “Ultimately at the end of the day they kill and commit genocide against each other. What do you think they gonna do to your black ass?”

In the videos, James assumed that a race war would follow the conflict in Europe. “It’s just a matter of time before these white motherfu–ers decide, ‘Hey listen. Enough is enough. These ni–ers got to go,'” he said. “And what’re you going to do? You gonna fight. And guess what? You gonna die. Cause unlike President [Zelensky] over in Ukraine, nobody has your back. The whole world is against you. And you’re against your fu–ing self. So why should you be alive again is the fucking question. Why should a ni–er be alive on this planet? Besides to pick cotton or chop sugar cane or tobacco.”

James said that the only options he could find was to commit more violence or become a criminal. “And so the message to me is: I should have gotten a gun, and just started shooting motherf—ers,” he said. “Or I should have gotten some dope and started shooting or starting hitting bit–es in the head, robbing old ladies, you know what the fu– it is.”

Authorities said that the shooter set off two smoke canisters and opened fire with a Glock 9 mm handgun. He reportedly shot 33 rounds that struck the 10 victims of gunshots. New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell confirmed at the news conference that investigators have found in the subway station a gun with a magazine attached, two additional magazines, ammunition, a hatchet, and a container of what is possibly gasoline. Any possible motive remains undetermined.

Following the attack, police had said that they were on the lookout for a man believed to be about 5-foot-5 and 180 pounds. He is believed to have been wearing a green construction vest during the attack. “This person is dangerous,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a news conference.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have joined in the investigation. As a precaution, the security detail for Mayor Eric Adams was being beefed up. "The suspect was in the train car, the shooting began in the train car,” Sewell said. “As the train was pulling into the station, the subject put on a gas mask. He then opened a canister that was in his bag and then the car began to fill with smoke. After that he began shooting.”

Injuries were possibly limited after the gun used in the incident jammed during the attack. Besides the ten people who were shot, 13 others were hurt while trying to get away from the N train, the New York Fire Department said. Essig said that these 13 people were hurt as a result of inhalation of canister smoke, tripping or falling while fleeing, or panic attacks. Investigators believe that they have images of the shooter from nearby businesses. The security camera in the station, however, was nonfunctional as a result of user error.

The attack is reportedly not considered an act of terrorism. None of the people who were wounded suffered life-threatening injuries. Mayor Adams, however, believes that the shooter intended to bring terror to subway riders. "Any time you have a person that uses a smoke device, you have a person who discharges a weapon in the system, that appeared to place a gas mask on his face, that is a person that is intentionally trying terrorize our system," Adams told MSNBC. "What we're going to do to help ... [to] ease some of the apprehension. We're going to double our enforcement," he added. "We're keeping our day tour police officers to complement the 4-to-12-tour police officers."