New York City Mayor Eric Adams was on the receiving end of a fair share of criticism after seemingly taking partial credit for the capture of Brooklyn subway gunman Frank James, even as it is being reported that James had to call the police on himself.
“My fellow New Yorkers,” Adams said at a press conference Wednesday. “We got him.”
New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell tried to get in on the action, claiming the NYPD left James “nowhere to hide” and “shrank his world.”
Adams would also add, “I want to thank every day New Yorkers who called in tips, responded, helped wounded passengers.”
But James seemingly wasn’t hiding all that effectively, evading authorities despite wandering around the city for 30 hours after the attack, and only being apprehended reportedly after calling a police tip line on himself.
“We got him,” New York Mayor Eric Adams says following the arrest of subway shooting suspect Frank James https://t.co/DAU7mFMAvb pic.twitter.com/piwPZmArcJ
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) April 13, 2022
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Brooklyn Subway Shooter Slapped With Terrorism Charge
According to reports, James dropped a smoke canister inside a crowded New York City subway car during rush hour on Tuesday morning, then opened fire causing mayhem and panic.
His attack injured 29 people, 10 from gunshot wounds, and five critically according to authorities.
Following his arrest on Wednesday, James was hit with a federal terrorism offense.
James has been reported to be on the FBI’s terrorist watch list in New Mexico until 2019, but was cleared after “multiple interviews.”
The FBI though denies those reports.
#FrankJames has been charged with committing terrorist and other violent attacks against mass transit systems. FBI just said he was not on their radar – they never investigated him, rejected “inaccurate” reports of some New Mexico contact. https://t.co/QMpu9xyHgQ
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) April 13, 2022
Still, his social media rantings should have raised alarm bells repeatedly with authorities. Perhaps had they not spent the past year trying to find Capitol ‘insurrectionists’ they could have focused their energy on an actual terrorist in the making.
For weeks prior to the shooting, James posted ominous videos on YouTube about race and shootings, and he announced he was leaving Wisconsin and “will never be back again alive.”
Two days before the shooting he posted a video with this chilling statement: “This is what white b*****s and white m*********ers’ expect you to be… when you blow one of their f*****g brains out – this is what you asked for. This is how you wanted me to be, obviously.”
Of course, James wasn’t banned from social media for violent terrorist threats. You only get banned from social media for questioning official COVID pronouncements, or questioning the media’s accounts of events in Ukraine.
Where was THE FBI? ???
Adams says social media firms should have flagged alleged subway shooter Frank James’ vile rants https://t.co/TsEeNtTICk via @nypmetro
— Forest Pump (@Arkancided) April 14, 2022
James Reportedly Called Cops on Himself
As for Adams’ comments about “New Yorkers who called in tips,” Frank James appears to have been one of them himself.
The Brooklyn subway terrorist called a Crime Stoppers tip line himself immediately before being arrested Wednesday, according to NBC New York report.
In fact, police sources said they believe James called the tip line himself, saying he was at a McDonald’s on the Lower East Side.
“This is Frank. You guys are looking for me … my phone is about to die,” the sources say the caller said.
James wasn’t at the McDonald’s by the time cops responded to the call, but they drove around and eventually spotted him on a street corner. He didn’t resist.
NEW: Police sources say they believe Frank James called the Crime Stoppers tip line himself.
“This is Frank. You guys are looking for me…my phone is about to die,” the sources say the caller said. https://t.co/UvSvKzPhs0
— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) April 13, 2022
A man identified as Zack Tahhan has also been credited for spotting the gunman.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is the guy, we need to get him,’” Tahhan told reporters. “He was walking down the street, I see the police car. I said, ‘Yo, this is the guy,’ and we catch him, thank God.”
Twitter users were quick to tell Adams that Tahhan was more responsible for apprehending James than he was.
You should be thanking Zack, he found the guy not your detectives. Dude was riding the subway while over 3000 of your guys were standing around looking at their phones
— irontuna (@irontuna1) April 13, 2022
Thank god for Zack, who spotted the guy TWO BLOCKS FROM MY APARTMENT and 5 blocks from the 9th Precinct. NYPD should be thankful for this man – I sure am – not taking credit for what he (and all the New Yorkers at the scene yesterday) did to ensure this tragedy wasn’t worse https://t.co/Cp3lS9Sv6f
— KareBearScare (@KareBearScare) April 13, 2022
It’s an utter embarrassment that the FBI failed to track down James until a random guy named Zack and the gunman himself provided them tips.
It’s even more of an embarrassment that Adams is taking credit.
