What we know about Brooklyn subway shooting suspect

A manhunt is underway for Frank R. James, the suspect in Tuesday’s subway shooting in Brooklyn that injured more than 20 people.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced on Wednesday that James, who was initially labeled a “person of interest” in the investigation, is now considered a suspect.

The New York Police Department wrote on Twitter that James “fired numerous gun shots” inside the Midtown-bound subway car Tuesday morning.

The shooter also opened two canisters that disbursed smoke throughout the car.

Ten people were injured by gunfire, and 13 others were hurt as they moved to exit the train station or suffered from smoke inhalation.

James, 62, was first linked to the incident after authorities recovered a U-Haul key at the scene, which was for a van rented by James in Philadelphia.

Authorities are now searching for James and offering up to $50,000 for information that leads to an arrest and indictment.

Here’s what we know about the alleged shooter.

Addresses in Wisconsin, Philadelphia

New York police posted two photos of James on Twitter after announcing him as a “person of interest.”

Chief of Detectives James Essig, at a news conference on Tuesday, described James as a dark-skinned, heavyset male.

He said James was wearing an orange-green, nylon-type construction vest, a gray hooded sweatshirt, a surgical mask and a neon-green construction helmet at the time of the incident.

Authorities said that James has addresses in Wisconsin and Philadelphia.

Witnesses told authorities that the suspect opened two smoke grenades and threw them on the subway, then fired a Glock nine-millimeter handgun at least 33 times. The suspect then fled the scene.

Authorities also recovered a Glock 17 9 mm handgun, three extended Glock-type magazines, three discharged shell casings, 15 bullets, five bullet fragments, two detonated smoke grenades, two nondetonated smoke grenades, a hatchet and gasoline, in addition to the U-Haul key, according to Essig.

One of the extended Glock-type magazines was still in the weapon, one was found under a seat and the third was located in a backpack.

‘Concerning’ YouTube videos 

A YouTube channel known as “prophet oftruth88” was linked to James after police released a screenshot from one of the page’s videos. 

James, who is Black, often went on racist, profanity-laced rants and discussed current events in the videos posted on his account, some of which were titled “LETS TALK ABOUT THE N WORD,” “CODE OF THE GHETTO” and “SENSIBLE VIOLENCE.”

Sewell told reporters on Tuesday that the then-person of interest had made “some concerning posts” that led authorities to tighten Adams’s security detail.

A video from March 1 showed reports about violence in the New York City subway and remarks from Adams before James appeared in the video to offer his commentary. 

“I told you so,” he said of the attacks, criticizing Adams’s response to the violence and focusing on homeless people’s involvement.

James had also spoken of violent crime, specifically in regard to mass shootings. 

“We need to see more mass shootings,” he said. “We need to see more, there has to be more mass shootings to make a n—– understand.”

Another now eerie video, titled “THE GOOD OLE DAYS,” showed a quiet, crowded subway car moving.

And in a separate video, James spoke about death.

“The sad part about it is not that we are going to die. That’s not the sad part. The sad part is that we ought to f—— be dead and can’t see why, refuse to see why,” he said.

On the YouTube page, James described his travels from Milwaukee to Philadelphia, which he referred to as “the danger zone.”

“On the drive I’m just thinking because I’m heading back into the danger zone, so to speak, and it’s triggering a lot of negative thoughts,” he said, “because I do suffer from, have a bad case of post-traumatic stress from all the things I’ve been through.”

Remarks from neighbors 

A neighbor of James, Keilah Miller, on Tuesday told The New York Times he was a “really weird neighbor,” adding that she had not seen him since late March. 

The 32-year-old lived adjacent to James in a two-story Milwaukee triplex where James once confronted her over a key left in her lock. 

“Don’t ever do that again!” he told her. 

“Like if I say, ‘Hello, good morning,’ he just grunts at me like he’s some old grumpy Black man,” Miller, who is also Black, told the newspaper. 

Another neighbor, Mike Lopez, told the Times he never spoke to James but was unthreatened by him. 

“I didn’t see him as no threat or nothing,” Lopez said. “I mean, I don’t see him as capable as that. He can’t move like that, man. He wasn’t fast.”

The Daily Beast spoke with James’s sister, Catherine James, who told the outlet that she has not spoken to her brother in roughly three years.

She said she does not know what might have prompted him to open fire on the subway car.

“I don’t know what might have been his motivation. Last I spoke to him was, like, three years ago,” James told The Daily Beast on Tuesday. “We don’t keep in contact with each other … I don’t know what he was thinking, I don’t know anything about why he might have done what he did.”