MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) — The NYPD was tipped off to the location of a man wanted in connection with a subway rampage that injured nearly two dozen people through a CrimeStoppers call, which led police to make an arrest Wednesday, officials said.
Frank R. James was taken into police custody near St. Mark’s Place and First Avenue on the Lower East Side, according to police. James, 62, allegedly donned a gas mask onboard an N train in Sunset Park, Brooklyn during Tuesday morning’s rush-hour commute, deployed gas canisters and opened fire on straphangers.
Ten people were shot and another 13 people were injured, police said. People onboard the train poured out onto the platform at the 36th Street station amid a cloud of smoke, while others fell to the floor bleeding heavily.
James was stopped on the street Wednesday afternoon after a CrimeStoppers tip, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said during a briefing. He was taken into custody around 1:40 p.m.
James was initially spotted in a McDonald’s at East 6th Street and First Avenue, police said. Officers headed there after the CrimeStoppers tip but James wasn’t there, so the officers searched the neighborhood and found him nearby, officials said.
Hundreds of NYPD officers worked “doggedly” to find him. He’s since been taken to an NYPD precinct.
James was expected to be charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York. He’s being charged with one count of violating 18 U.S.C. 1992(a)(7), which prohibits terrorist and other violent attacks against mass transportation systems, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said.
The NYPD, MTA and TWU transit union offered a combined $50,000 reward for information that led to an arrest and conviction in the case. The NYPD on Wednesday declined to identify the tipster that led them to James’ location.
