The man who deployed gas and opened fire on a Brooklyn subway Tuesday morning has been arrested after a massive manhunt.
The suspect, Frank James, equipped a gas mask, deployed a gas canister, and started shooting. Mayor Eric Adams has indicated that some sort of malfunction with the camera system had occurred. It is currently unclear whether only one camera malfunctioned, or if cameras throughout the whole station went down.
At least 29 people have been hospitalized in connection to the shooting, 16 of whom have since been released. 10 of the patients had been shot, and 5 were in critical condition.
Initially, CNN reported that the shooting was not “being investigated as an act of terrorism,” but James has since been arrested and charged with a federal terrorism offense.
Despite New York, particularly the city having some of the strictest gun laws in the entire country, Governor Hochul has blamed the incident on firearms, and announced her dedication to “restoring public safety and getting guns off the street”.
Twitter users unearthed an allegedly drunk rant where Frank James addressed black Americans, telling them that white and black people should “never have contact”. Other users argued that the NYC DA, and or federal prosecutors likely will not add a hate crime to the shooter’s offenses
Among his Youtube videos, one shows James becoming distressed that Ketanji Brown Jackson is married to a white man.
While still at large, the shooter filmed himself around NYC shouting racial slurs at white people, and telling other black people to stay away from white people because “they ain’t your friend”.