Brooklyn Shooting Suspect Called In Tip That Led To Own Arrest – Live Updates

Eric Adams says New Yorkers have been ‘abandoned and betrayed for years’

Speaking remotely at a press conference after testing positive for Covid, New York mayor Eric Adams said New Yorkers will not be betrayed anymore and he is committed in doing so, as he delivered a passionate speech announcing the suspect’s arrest.

“The failures of those with mental health, homelessness, the failure of our educational system did not start January 2022,” Mr Adams said. “We have abandoned and betrayed New Yorkers for years. That betrayal is going to stop, and I’m committed to doing so.”

He indicated that most crimes receive less attention because the victims were Black.

“Here’s my question that I put out to the city — I thought Black Lives Matter. Where are all those who stated Black Lives Matter?” Mr Adams said.

“If Black Lives Matter, then the thousands of people I saw on the street when Floyd was murdered should be on the street right now stating that the lives of these Black children that are dying every night matters. We can’t be hypocrites,” he added.

Shweta Sharma14 April 2022 06:15

Witnesses say the suspect was arrested ‘without struggle’

An eyewitness, Lee Lloyd, who was working inside his bar at the St Marks Place in East Village, said Frank R James “went without a struggle” when he was put in a police car.

He said “everybody’s on edge because of what happened yesterday, obviously”, according to the New York Times. “When we saw five cop cars come through, I was like, ‘Oh, man, what now?’”

Several police cars were driving around McDonald’s after Mr James himself called the police and said he was there, before he left the place.

Another eyewitness, Aleksei Korobow, a software worker, said everyone who witnessed the arrest was in shock.

“He was just casually walking here,” Mr Korobow said.

Shweta Sharma14 April 2022 05:30

‘Thank you Zack’: A Syrian man becomes NYC hero after spotting suspect

A Syrian man, 21, who helped NYPD police catch the person of interest in the Brooklyn subway shooting, is being hailed as a hero with #Thankyouzack trending on Twitter after he followed the suspected shooter and alerted the officers.

Zach Tahhan, who works as a security camera technician, was fixing the security system for a shop near St Marks Place and First Avenue in Manhattan’s East Village when he spotted a man walking on the street matching to the photos of James.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is the guy, we need to get him.’ He was walking down the street, I see the car of the police, I said, ‘Yo, this is the guy!’,” he told reporters.

He said he ran onto the street and followed the suspect while warning everyone around him to keep their distance.

“People think I am crazy, like maybe I am on drugs. But I’m not. I’m fasting,” he said, referring to his Ramadan fast.

Prior to Mr Tahhan spotting him, Mr Jams himself gave a tip to police by calling in and saying he was in McDonald’s. But he left before the police arrived.

It is not yet confirmed if it was Mr Tahhan’s actions that led to his arrest. But he was cheered and clapped by onlookers as he was taken in the police car for the investigation.

Shweta Sharma14 April 2022 04:45

Suspected terrorist Frank James documented his journey from Milwaukee to New York on YouTube

In a series of recent YouTube videos, Frank James documented his journey from packing up his apartment in Milwaukee to hiring a U-Haul van in Philadelphia to heading to New York, where he is accused of carrying out Tuesday’s attack.

He spoke of how the prospect of returning to the “danger zone” of Philadelphia had triggered negative thoughts, and that he had suffered from “post-traumatic stress”.

Mr James said in a clip uploaded on 23 February titled “negrotude” that his tax refund had been more than he was expecting, and he was using the several thousand dollars to fund his upcoming trip.

He’d been getting the “shakes” after trying to give up drinking, he said.

On 21 March, Mr James posted a clip apparently from Fort Wayne, Indiana. “Doomsday is actually about to be here,” he says in the clip.

Four days later, Mr James was seen driving through Philadelphia. Days later, he says he’s checked into a Best Western in Bordentown, New Jersey.

“Here I am, back, back, back in the place where all my troubles started,” he says.

“The state of f***ing stinking New Jersey, sitting here in Bordentown the next couple of days. And as you saw, the end of my journey, or part of the end of my journey, in Philadelphia, at my storage facility, getting everything put away.”

Mr James says he is only staying in New Jersey for a couple of days.

“Damage is just too deep. Damage is just way too f***ing deep. And so I think the second phase of what took place on 9/11 is about to take place. And that’s why Putin’s over here sabre-rattling.”

In one recent chilling video, Mr James says that he’s “made up his mind” that he “may have to hurt somebody”.

“Because there’s no way that I’m going to do what society asks me to do, which is to try to be—to work hard to play fair, keep my nose to the old grindstone, pull myself by the bootstraps, you know, go to work, pay my taxes, do everything you asked me to do, and then you’re going to smack me in the face.”

Rachel Sharp14 April 2022 01:20

Brooklyn borough president calls faulty cameras a ‘large concern’

Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso reacted to the news that the 36th Street station’s surveillance cameras failed to capture footage of Tuesday’s shooting in an interview with ABC News this morning.

“The fact that these cameras are not working is a large concern,” Mr Reynoso said.

“There’s a lot of work to do in the city now to check every camera, make sure they’re all working, and also a deeper dive into what happened and what we can do in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen.”

He added that he does not think putting more police officers in subway stations would help prevent future violence.

“I think there are root causes to this violence that exists, mostly mental health at this point, is what we’re seeing in New York City. And that’s where we should be spending resources and energy,” he said.

“More cops to respond to a crime won’t necessarily stop the crime. In this case, this individual was inside a train car – unless you believe that you can put a police officer in every single train car in New York City, which is physically impossible … that’s not the way we’re going to solve that issue.”

Rachel Sharp14 April 2022 01:00

Governor Kathy Hochul says the ‘epidemic of gun violence that terrorizes communities must end’

Governor Kathy Hochul has vowed to restore “safety” to the streets of New York as she said the “epidemic of gun violence that terrorizes communities must end”.

“Like all New Yorkers, I am deeply grateful that the suspect in yesterday’s subway shooting has been apprehended. I am grateful to law enforcement and every first responder whose heroic efforts helped New York City respond to this horrific incident,” she tweeted following the arrest of the only suspect in the case Frank James.

“The epidemic of gun violence that terrorizes communities must end.

“My pledge to New Yorkers is this: I will fight every day to restore safety, get guns off our streets, & prevent these horrific acts.”

Rachel Sharp14 April 2022 00:40

Brooklyn shooter said ‘oops’ moments before opening fire, says witness

The Brooklyn shooter said “oops” after launching a smoke bomb and moments before opening fire, according to a witness.

“We have witnesses on the train who said he was sitting in the back corner of the second car and he popped the smoke grenade,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said during Wednesday’s press conference.

“And we have one witness who says ‘what did you do?’ He goes ‘oops’ and he pops the tube, brandishes the firearm and fires 33 times.”

Mr Essig’s comments supported the account given by one survivor who has spoken out about his encounter with the gunman.

“I looked at him, and I thought to myself he was talking to himself for like a while, so I looked at him, and I was like, this guy must be on drugs,” said Fitim Gjeloshi.

“When [the train] was about to hit 36th Street, we stopped for 5 minutes. He takes out a gas mask from one of his little luggage.

“He opened one of his gas tanks and he said ‘Oops, my bad.’ He pulls out an ax, he drops it, he takes a gun out, he starts shooting.”

Rachel Sharp14 April 2022 00:20

Motive remains unclear amid questions over whether Sunset Park community was specifically targeted

The motive for Tuesday’s terror attack remains unclear as questions continue to mount over whether the Sunset Park community was specifically targeted by the gunman.

Officials said on Wednesday that the investigation was still ongoing to determine the motive behind Tuesday’s attack.

NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said that investigators were looking into the social media posts of accused shooter Frank James.

Mr James posted more than 400 videos on a YouTube channel where he rambled about mental health services, subways, gun violence and racism.

Meanwhile, questions are being asked as to whether the Sunset Park neighbourhood was chosen by the shooter for the attack.

Sunset Park is home to a large community of working class Asian and Latin American immigrants.

New York City’s Asian community members have fallen victim to a growing number of hate crimes over the last year – something that many have attributed to the anti-Asian rhetoric pushed by former President Donald Trump during the Covidi-19 pandemic.

Rachel Sharp14 April 2022 00:00

Frank James posted video rant one day before mass shooting

Accused shooter Frank James posted an expletive-filled video rant on his YouTube page Prophet of Truth 88 just one day before the attack on a Brooklyn subway,

In the video, titled DOMESTICATED AVERAGES, Mr James spoke about how he identified with those who committed acts of extreme violence.

“I’ve been through a lot of s***, where I can say I wanted to kill people. I wanted to watch people die right in front of my f***ing face immediately,” he says in the footage, which has now been removed from YouTube.

“But I thought about the fact that, hey man, I don’t want to go to no f***ing prison.”

Rachel Sharp13 April 2022 23:40

Watch NYC Mayor Eric Adams announce arrest of alleged gunman

Watch New York City Mayor Eric Adams announce the arrest of alleged gunman Frank James on Wednesday.

“We got him,” he told New Yorkers remotely from Gracie Mansion, where he is isolating with Covid-19.

The mayor’s own security was stepped up following Tuesday’s attack after videos came to light online of Mr James ranting about the Democrat.

Rachel Sharp13 April 2022 23:20