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NYPD Arrest NYC Subway Shooting Suspect; NYPD Update On Arrest Of Subway Shooting Suspect. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired April 13, 2022 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Shimon, we're told this news conference is going to begin pretty soon.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this news conference should begin soon. And what I'm told is that the NYPD is going to describe how they located this individual.
It was a CrimeStopper tip, we're told that ultimately led police to this individual. Someone called in. Of course, that number's been out there, that police have been asking anyone with information to call it.
So someone called it. Someone saw him. They called the police. And the police responded and they took him into custody.
I don't know what -- if the person called 911 or not, but how and why police responded so quickly. But it was a tip, we're told, that ultimately led them to this location where they were able to take him into custody.
This comes after other information from an individual that I've been in touch with this morning who said he believes he spotted Frank James at a different area not far from where he was taken into custody.
So clearly, as we've been saying this morning, he's been walking the streets calmly. At one point, from photos that I've seen, he was sitting down outside a cafe, some kind of cafe downtown, just sitting.
The individual that I spoke to said that when he took the photos of who he believe to be Frank James, the guy walked away. He just simply stood up and calmly walked away.
And then later on, police receiving another tip and they were able to take him into custody.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Yes, Shimon, we have --
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: Oh, sorry to interrupt you. We're seconds away from this press where we'll, hopefully, learn more specifics.
But I just want to underscore the public-police partnership. BLACKWELL: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Oh, we have some new video of the arrest?
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: OK, let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: OK. Shimon, I don't know if you can see this but this is exactly the picture of --
PROKUPECZ: I can't see it but I --
(CROSSTALK)
CAMEROTA: -- what you had seen earlier, I believe.
But let's listen in to the NYPD tell us about the arrest of this suspect.
JOHN J. MILLER, NYPD DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM: -- John J. Miller, deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism of the New York City Police Department.
With me, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell. Chief of Detectives James Essig, Breon Peace, the United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Mike Driscoll, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York Office, John DeVito, special-agent-in-charge, ATF.
These are the partners who have been working us from the first moment of this incident. And we have important information to transmit today.
First, we would like go to the mayor, live from Gracie Mansion.
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D-NEW YORK CITY): My fellow New Yorkers, we got him. We got him. I cannot thank the men and women of the New York City Police Department as well as our federal agents, our state police, our first responders for -- (INAUDIBLE) -- to the various -- (INAUDIBLE) -- professions.
We got him. As said to New Yorkers, we want to protect the people of this city and apprehend those who believe they bring terror to -- (INAUDIBLE).
And I want to thank everyday New Yorkers who called in tips and responded to help those passengers who were injured. Thirty-three shots. But less than 30 hours, we are able say we got him.
Thank you, Commissioner, for your leadership. A job well done.
MILLER: And now Police Commissioner of the city of New York, Keechant Sewell.
KEECHANT SEWELL, NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER: Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you for being here.
I am truly fortunate to stand here among these extraordinary investigators and federal partners to make this announcement.
Moments ago, Frank Robert James was stopped on the street and arrested by members of the New York City Police Department. Officers, in response to a CrimeStopper's tip stopped Mr. James at 1:42 p.m. at the corner of St. Mark's Place and 1st Avenue in Manhattan.
He was taken into custody without incident and has been transported to an NYPD facility. He will be charged with committing yesterday's appalling crime in Brooklyn.
[14:35:08]
I want to commend all of the investigators and analysts who took part in this all-hands-on-deck investigation. Literally, hundreds of NYPD detectives worked doggedly during the last 30 hours to bring this together.
They did so in tandem with a vast number of our law enforcement partners, including those from the FBI, NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force, the ATF, NYPD Crime, Gun Intelligence Center, and the Regional Task Force led by the United States Marshals Service.
We hope this arrest brings some solace to the victims and the people of the city of New York.
We used every resource at our disposal to gather and process significant evidence that directly links Mr. James to the shooting. We were able to shrink his world quickly. There was nowhere left for him to run.
I'd like to turn it over to Chief James Essig for details of the investigation.
JAMES ESSIG, NYPD CHIEF OF DETECTIVES: Good afternoon, everybody.
I'd like to update the public on yesterday's incident on the subway in Brooklyn on a Manhattan-bound in train.
Through the course of this investigation, we developed additional information and evidence that Mr. Frank James, a person of interest, now became a wanted individual for yesterday's horrific incident.
Mr. James is a male, 62-years-old. He is known to us and has ties in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York City.
His arrest history in New York is nine prior arrests, dating from 1992 to 1998. Those include possession of burglary tools, four times. Criminal sex act, theft of service, two times.
He was arrested on a New Jersey warrant. He also has a criminal tampering. He has three arrests in New Jersey, 1991, 1992 and 2007. They are for trespass, larceny and disorderly conduct.
So yesterday, we recovered video of him prior to the incident entering the King's Highway Subway Station. He has the same black coat (ph) that is later recovered on the crime scene.
The pictures are to my right over here.
This --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- available electronically -- (INAUDIBLE).
ESSIG: This station is three blocks from where we recovered the U-Haul truck that he rented in Philadelphia. The key to that truck was recovered at the crime scene.
This jacket, the distinctive orange jacket, was also recovered as well as his construction helmet he was wearing. And we recovered that in a garbage bin in transit.
We believe, but this is still early in the investigation, that after firing his weapon 33 times at innocent New York City subway riders, Mr. James boarded an R train that had pulled into the station, went one stop up, and exited at 25th Street station.
We also have a picture of that.
The gun used in this, a .9-millimeter Glock, which was recovered at the crime scene, was bought, was purchased by Mr. James in 2011 in Ohio.
We tracked Mr. James and his last-know whereabouts was 7th Avenue and 9th Street and Park Slope, entering the subway.
Minutes ago, thankfully, NYPD patrol officers from the 9th Precinct responded to St. Marks and 1st Avenue where they apprehended him without incident.
This case was quickly solved using technology, video camera sync, and then getting that information out to the public.
So I can't speak highly enough of the partners we had. The FBI, Mike Driscoll, ATF, John DeVito, U.S. district attorney from Eastern, Breon Peace.
And the coordination within the Detective Bureau. Tom Galati (ph) from Intel, our Transit Bureau, our Patrol Services Bureau.
A phenomenal job. Less than 30 hours later to arrest this individual.
So with that, I'd like to turn it over to Breon Peace. BREON PEACE, U.S. ATTORNEY, EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Good afternoon. Thank you.
[14:39:59]
Yesterday was a dark day for all of us. But the bright spots of the incredible heroism of our fellow New Yorkers, helping each other in a time of crisis, the quick response by our first responders, and the hard work by all of our law enforcement partners that has been ongoing, is truly a bright spot here.
Today, Frank James has been charged by complaint in Brooklyn federal court with one count of violating 18-USC Sections 1992, A7 and B1, which prohibits terrorists and other violent attacks against mass transportation systems.
He has been apprehended. He will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn. And if convicted, he will face a sentence of up to life imprisonment.
My office is prepared to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that, on April 12, 2022, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, in the Eastern District of New York, Frank James did knowingly and without lawful authority and permission, commit an act, including the use of a dangerous weapon, with the intent to cause death and serious bodily injury to passengers and MTA employees on the New York City subway system.
The government will prove, among other things, that James traveled across state lines in order to commit the offense, and transported materials across a state line in aid of the commission of the offense.
We, in the Eastern District of New York U.S. attorney's Office, are working closely with all of our law enforcement partners, the FBI, NYPD, ATF, U.S. Marshals Service, and others, including the Kings County district attorney's office.
And my office and our law enforcement partners will use every tool at our disposal to bring this individual to justice and bring justice to New Yorkers and restore safety and peace of mind to all. And we'll continue to do so as this case proceeds.
Thank you.
MIKE DRISCOLL, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE, FBI, NEW YORK OFFICE: Good afternoon. And thank you all for being here today.
As Mr. Peace just discussed, Mr. James is now facing a federal charge for his actions, a terrorist attack on mass transit.
We have two ways that you can get in contact with us, because I want to be very clear that this is still an ongoing investigation.
If you have additional information regarding Mr. James' activity or if you have digital information, please reach out to us. Contact the FBI, 1-800-C-A-L-L-F-B-I, or you can provide digital media through fbi.gov/Brooklyn shooting. We need to hear from you so we can fully understand all of the events that have occurred over the last 30 hours. It's crucial that we receive the assistance of the public as we piece this case together.
There has been some reports that FBI holdings to date had a tie to Mr. James. I want to be very clear that, to date, we have found no record of an investigation of Frank R. James by an FBI office before the shooting yesterday.
Reports that FBI's New Mexico Field Office previously investigated him are inaccurate.
I want to thank our partners in this case, the NYPD, the ATF, U.S. Marshals, and the U.S. attorney's office, and all of the members of the FBI and NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force.
We've had such a tremendous response from all of our partners in this case that have led us to this moment now.
I also want to take a quick moment to highlight the work of the JTTF. I'm fortunate I get to work with them every day.
It's truly an outstanding group of people, led by SAC Terry Farley, who spearheaded this investigation. They've done an outstand job on this as they have every time New York has faced a threat of this nature.
So thank you.
And I'd like to turn it John DeVito from ATF.
JOHN DEVITO, ATF SPECIAL-AGENT-IN-CHARGE, NEW YORK STATE: Good afternoon, everyone. Again, my name is John DeVito. I'm the special- agent-in-charge for ATF here in New York State.
One of the key points that Agent Driscoll just pointed out was that we could not have done this without the public's help.
First, let say our thoughts and prayers and actions for the past two day have been the victims as well as all New Yorkers.
The men and women of ATF have been working side by side with NYPD, FDNY, Marshals, FBI to solve this heinous crime, which we have.
Immediately after the attack, New York City Crime Gun Intelligence Center, or CGIC, which is a unit comprised of highly skilled analysts and investigators from ATF, NYPD as well as a myriad of other vital partners, who sole purpose is to collect, analyze and disseminate actional intelligence regarding gun violence.
[14:45:05]
Just imagine a team of dedicated professionals exploiting every nugget of intel from gun violence, from firearms, and then weaponizing that information to use it against the people that are terrorizing our communities. That's CGIC. The timeline on this gun's life spans 16 years and five states. And I'm very proud to say that, late yesterday evening, about 12 hours after this attack, ATF were able to close the loop on that extensive time span and determine that Frank James purchased that firearm from a federal firearms licensee in Ohio in 2011.
So essentially, we tied that gun utilized in the shooting to our target. And now we have our target in custody.
Thank you.
MILLER: OK, we're going be -- we've told you almost everything we have to say. We'll be able to answer some very limited questions.
(INAUDIBLE)?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) - CrimeStopper -- (INAUDIBLE)?
SEWELL: There was a person who called CrimeStopper. We're reviewing who exactly made that call.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Commissioner -- (INAUDIBLE) -- any significance? And is it clear yet what the motivation was for the shooting?
MILLER: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There with the person who contact in the agency. Is it clear yet what the motivation was?
ESSIG: I think, first and foremost, we were looking to get this guy off the street before he did anymore carnage, brought anymore carnage to the city.
As to the investigation and the motive and to look and scour the social media, that's still part of the ongoing investigation.
Again, first and foremost, we wanted to take him off the street. The investigation is continuing into the motive into his social media postings.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You said Mr. James walked into station. What time was that and what was he doing in between then?
ESSIG: That was 9:15 yesterday. The incident occurs at 8:24. He exits to 25th Street station House shortly after 8:24. The R train pulls in. We catch him next going into Park Slope on 7th Avenue and 9th Street at 9:15. And then we grab him today.
But we had literally hundreds of detectives out scouring video throughout the crime scene and beyond.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This is 9:00 a.m.?
ESSIG: Excuse me?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It's 9:00 a.m.?
ESSIG: Yes. Yesterday at 9:15.
MILLER: Mark?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have any idea where he was previously today? Any ideas on his whereabouts? Did he say anything when he was arrested?
ESSIG: No. His arrest was just literally minutes ago. We haven't even -- he's just arrived at the precinct shortly.
As to his whereabouts, that's part of the investigation. Detectives are out going through video canvass and we're going to backtrack and will take weeks.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Two questions. The first is, did the NYPD, previous to yesterday's attack, have any complaint or did they look into any of the cameras being at 45th and 25th?
And additionally, is there any indication that Mr. James was going to do anymore attacks?
MILLER: (INAUDIBLE)
ESSIG: Yes. As far as him doing any more attacks, that's part of the investigation. Our main focus was to take him off the street immediately.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know how he purchased the gun if he had a criminal record?
ESSIG: You can't have a felony conviction to purchase a gun. He had no felony convictions.
MILLER: OK, New York One.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How are you?
ESSIG: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have the mayor's security detail been returned to its typical size and scope?
MILLER: We're not going to discuss that.
Julia?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you take us from the CrimeStopper tip to the arrest, what happened between he was located and --
ESSIG: The CrimeStopper tip today?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes. Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good afternoon. CrimeStopper tip comes in. Reports the male in is in the McDonald's on 1st Street and 9th Avenue. The 9th Precent on the lower side, East Village.
Officers respond. He's not in the McDonald's. They start driving around the neighborhood looking for him. They see him on the corner of St. Marks and 1st and take him into custody. No incident to take him into custody.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Does NYPD do an audit of cameras and subway stations to make sure they are working?
[14:50:03]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, so the camera systems are not NYPD cameras. They're maintained by the MTA. We have access to them. We do regularly look and see what cameras are working and which ones are not. But the responsibility for those cameras belongs to the MTA.
MILLER: Tony?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Are you going to make the officers in the apprehension available or identify them?
SEWELL: Not at this time. If we do, we'll let you know.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Chief, in interviews that took place yesterday, were any of the surviving victims as well as people on the train, have you been able to glean anything about what he said or did on the train that yields bit more about his motivation about what he intended to do?
ESSIG: 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. And we have one witness who says -- what did you do? He goes, oops, and then he pops the two, brandishes the firearm and fires 33 times.
We're in the process and we're asking for anybody's help on the subway train or on that platform to reach out to CrimeStopper at 1-800-877- tips with any information. We're still looking for witnesses and anybody who has information who was on the scene.
MILLER: OK. New York Times.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: HI. Can you tell us anything more -- we heard it jammed. Experts say Glocks are supposed to do that. It's one of the selling points. But more about the case.
ESSIG: Our crime scene is still processing that scene. It goes to the lab and they gave us the report. It's still very early in the investigation for that.
MILLER: All right, (INAUDIBLE)?
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The statute that he's being held under, that requires -- (INAUDIBLE terrorism. (INAUDIBLE)
PEACE: That's correct. The statute is titled Terrorism and Other Violent Attacks in Mass Transportation. There's a federal interest in protecting mass transportation hubs and infrastructure. That's the jurisdiction.
But we're not going to comment further or we're still investigating the motive and things like that, so can comment further.
MILLER: Last question to Juliette.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes. We been told about his contact with social services. Any family in New York?
SEWELL: That's going to be part of the investigation as well. We're not able to speak to that at this moment.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So the answer is, did he like -- (INAUDIBLE)
SEWELL: That's part of our investigation as well, Juliette. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I have one more question. News 12.
MILLER: The last, last question.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.
I'm wondering if there's -- do we have any motive in terms of sunset park or was it random?
SEWELL: No.
MILLER: No idea.
So just to close, we also want to acknowledge our partners, sometimes jousting partners in the media for putting all these pictures out, for spreading this story from the time we did the press conference yesterday.
That was a critical effect on raising the kind of public awareness as the commissioner said --
BLACKWELL: All right. The mayor, Eric Adams, started by saying, my fellow New Yorkers, we got him.
We learned a wealth of information about the investigation thus far, starting in 2011 when he bought this gun, legally, in Ohio, and all the way through his capture, Frank James, 62 years old, the suspect, in the shooting just a little more than an hour ago. Let's bring in now CNN's Shimon Prokupecz, with us. CNN's law
enforcement analyst, former acting Baltimore Police Commissioner, Anthony Barksdale. And Miguel Marquez, outside the precinct where we're told this suspect went.
Miguel, let me start with you.
Commissioner Sewell said, "We were able to shrink his world quickly." It seems as though maybe he wasn't concerned about his world shrinking. He was just sitting at a McDonald's restaurant when someone saw him.
MIQUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is shocking to consider that on a beautiful spring day in New York City this guy was picked up three blocks from where I'm standing outside the 9th Precinct.
I want to show you what's happening here right now. If you could swing around?
It might look a little chaotic. There's a huge number of press here and a massive police force as well that's come in here now that this individual has been arrested.
[14:55:05]
Lots of police officers coming in and out of the precinct, shaking hands, hugging, bumping fists. Clearly, a since of relief this individual has been arrested.
And his arrest, as we've seen in video, as mundane as arrests come. He was picked up on the street. People were all around him taking videos of it. And he was put into a police car without almost anybody saying anything.
It's not clear if we're going to see him soon out of this precinct. There are federal charges he faces as well. That may come into play. But it is possible at some point we will see this suspect, this alleged shooter come out of the 9th precinct here.
The officers who picked him up clearly a great day for them and a lot of pride being felt by police officers in this area right now.
Back to you guys.
CAMEROTA: Absolutely. You could hear the tone that they were striking, as Victor said, when the mayor start with we got him, we got him.
Commissioner, you also were gleeful when you found out about the arrest.
We learned so much in this press conference, including his priors. Basically, he's been in trouble for three decades, this guy.
Starting in 1992, he had nine prior arrests. Things like criminal sex acts, larceny, trespassing, criminal tampering. H had three arrests in New Jersey. The FBI says they didn't know about him but local police in various
states did know about him.
Again, the idea that he was able to buy this gun in 2011 in Ohio. Feels like something should have caught it in some background checks since he had all these arrests.
But he's been bad news for law enforcement for a long time.
ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely. I mean, we're looking at an individual who commits an act like that and then just still hangs out at a McDonald's.
This is great work. But there are numerous concerns. I'm hoping, somewhere along the line, the ATF is going to, or they already have started digging into who sold him that weapon back in 2011.
It's a huge concern. We're seeing what guns can do across the United States, across the world in the wrong hands.
Today, I'm so proud of the NYPD and every one that participated in this.
But the unsung hero is that person who called the tip in. That's huge. It shows the public combined with the police are unstoppable.
BLACKWELL: Yes. The remarkable police boric that was ascribed on the hundreds of local detectives that we learned were involved in this search.
Shimon Prokupecz, back to you near the scene of this crime.
The question yesterday when I was there with you was, how did this man escape this train car, this platform? Where did he go?
We learned he got onto the next train. Maybe across the platform, the R train. Went up one stop and got off at 25th Street, which is only 11 blocks away from where this happened.
PROKUPECZ: Right. They were able to track him with video in Park Slope, the chief of detectives saying.
Look, as we have been saying, the police department has been all over this neighborhood in the moments after this happened, looking for video. They have been able to track him.
I think it's important we need to highlight this is being handled by the U.S. attorney's office. There were a lot of questions about whether or not terrorism charges were going to be brought against him, whether this is terrorism.
We have an answer here from the U.S. attorney office here in Brooklyn not far from here. One of the things that Mr. James is charged with is a charge that involves the Prohibiting -- of Terrorist Violent Acts Against Mass Transit. And there are other charges. But that is significant that we're seeing
the FBI, with the Department of Justice and the NYPD, all working together. Now the U.S. attorney's office will be prosecuting him.
They just released the complaint they have filed against him. They also filed a warrant. There's a lot of information in there about what happened here.
The motive will be the big thing. That's something that the FBI and the NYPD are going to continue to work through.
Those YouTube videos are playing a significant role in that because perhaps those rants he goes on, those will help authorities figure out.
[14:59:57]
A lot of work went into this in the last several hours really. And 24, 30 hours into this, we're seeing what that wound up doing.
They've been able to gather all this evidence against him.
