Authorities Give Update On NYC Subway Shooting | NBC News
james and he tells me that every purchase by at his stores is is documented so that they know who what when and where everything was purchased and they keep documentation on every customer and so he was able to run through his system the items that were purchased and here's what he said about what that search on recover uncovered we found people that bought two of those items individuals who bought three of those items individuals that bought one of those items only one person bought four of those items exact four items so again he's saying that this is the only individual out of hundreds of thousands of customers over the years who purchased that nexus of items and he shared documents with us showing an invoice showing that these items were picked up at a store in racing wisconsin from a man frank james 62 years old same birth date of who we believe to be the suspect and that that man had a milwaukee address and again we know from authorities that the frank james they are looking for had a wisconsin address and one other crucial point on this aaron authorities or excuse me shouldn't say authorities the the fireworks company tells me that these items were purchased in june of last year so there are new questions as to how long any potential plot might have been in the works jesse before i let you go i do want to ask you about the folks who are still in the hospital from yesterday's shooting what's the latest on their conditions yeah we're still trying to get more information on that aaron but we know from nyu langone brooklyn that there are five people still in that hospital all we have on their condition is that they're stable we don't have more information on their injuries we know that in all there were 29 people who were injured police say it was 10 people who were shot we know from area hospitals a total of 29 people injured through a mix of gunshot wounds smoke inhalation and there are also people who were just injured in the aftermath trying to flee the scene here we know from new york's governor that among the injured are four children at least four children including the youngest 12 years old aaron all right jesse kirsch for us in brooklyn today jesse thank you i want to bring in mark claxton now he's a retired nypd detective and director of the black law enforcement alliance mark we appreciate you being with us today i i want to ask you about the terminology that's being used at this point i remember when person of interest became a term that we all started learning uh having mr mr james sort of upgraded from a person of interest to a suspect what's the significance there one is it shows the investigators are really interested and determined in protecting the integrity of the investigation understanding that the results of this investigation will hopefully lead to a prosecution and you don't want to overstep outreach or go ahead of your evidence you really want to let the evidence lead you to uh your persons of interest or your your suspect so the designation the classification as a suspect in this case a sole suspect is in keeping with good investigative techniques and tactics so that come time for court cases there can be uh no accusation or valid accusation of of of jumping to conclusions too early etcetera they allowed the impact the evidence to lead them to uh to this individual we know that there are several agencies that are working on this case can you talk a little bit about the coordination that's going on right now between these different agencies to try to track down frank james it's a massive coordination between the local authorities the state authorities the federal authorities because each level has their own set of resources and expertise if you will the primary investigators in this particular at this particular time or the within the nypd but they're relying heavily on the resources uh from the federal government you know along with a lot of uh technological uh resources you know you talk about the domain aware awareness system in the nypd which includes thousands of private and public cameras you're talking about the license plate readers you're talking about databases that can give you information on driver's license and vehicle registrations and then you move to the federal authorities who have a whole different network of resources and databases that are available that can assist in locating pinpointing the location of of this suspect so it's really a cohesive uh collaborative effort ultimately with the with the goal of apprehending the discriminal we talked about the fact that the suspect here had those smoke canisters and and a gas mask on the train do those details tell you anything about the sophistication or the level of planning for this attack they could very well and i think that the job and the information that jesse shared uh in the previous segment about the location you know the the commercial the vendors information who purchased those items is very telling and will assist in developing a profile of this particular suspect and it'd be very important moving forward uh and also it'll be very important in the future to avoid these type of incidents if you can get a good solid solid psychological profile of this offender because you can apply some of the the danger areas to future events all right mark claxton former nypd detective uh we appreciate your time and your perspective today thank you thank you we are also following some breaking news on ukraine today president biden using his strongest language yet accusing putin of genocide a new report out today from the organization for security and cooperation in europe shows russia has committed human rights abuses and broken international humanitarian law in ukraine mariopol's mayor says more than 100 000 people are waiting to be evacuated from that city but ukraine's deputy prime minister says no humanitarian corridors will be open today because the routes are too dangerous and ukraine's president is pressing for more weapons to support the fight against russia the white house could announce a new military aid package for ukraine as early as this week our correspondents are covering every angle of this developing story i want to begin with nbc news foreign correspondent molly hunter in keeve molly erin good afternoon that's right as you mentioned the mayor of mary opal says that a hundred thousand people are still stuck inside he estimates the death toll to be more than twenty thousand both of those numbers are just estimates it is impossible to know but this comes as russian forces have surrounded that southeastern city more russian troops moving towards eastern ukraine as ukrainians brace for the next phase in these newly released maxar satellite photos the u.s intelligence contractor says russian military vehicles can be seen just an hour from ukraine's eastern border this comes as russian troops close in on the city of mariopol the death toll there the mayor says likely more than 20 thousand in the key region alone officials say the bodies of more than 700 people have been identified and that's not including hundreds still missing for the first time president biden calling the atrocities in ukraine genocide none of it should hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away overnight president zielenski responding in a tweet true words of a true leader on tuesday putin's closest ally in ukraine victor medvedchuk was detained by ukrainian troops overnight zielinski proposing to swap him for ukrainians captured by russia and here around kiev as the grim work of counting the dead continues volunteer paramedics are racing to reach those still living who have been without medical care for the last six weeks andy mcclellan from quebec was a combat medic in afghanistan woke up three weeks ago and decided she had to be here i said to myself this is really bothering me this is wrong so i thought at least i can try to do something they're going village to village today asking local troops here if there's anyone left it's amazing to see people smile still you know really amazing what's the reaction when people come when they see you guys like when you go to grandma and grandpa's house they greet you they love you i've been kissed so much even though i don't understand what they're saying but they don't understand what i'm saying but they're so happy that somebody's here to come see them but even as the war moves east no one here is letting down their guard molly the presidents of poland and some of the baltic states are meeting with president zielinski in kiev today what might we expect from their visit yeah erin they have said uh that they are coming to show their support show their friendship uh with president zilensky president zlensky though we'll have uh one really mission on the top of his agenda to keep ukraine at the top of the world agenda to keep europe and the west focused on ukraine and to make sure that everyone goes back to their countries back to the eu back to the u.s to say we need more weapons here and quickly erin all right molly hunter for us in key of ukraine today molly thank you i want to bring in nbc news correspondent josh letterman for us now at the white house josh uh we dig a little deeper into this new military aid package that the administration is preparing what do we know about it at this point we know that the white house has been trying to figure out for weeks now what the next tranche of aid to ukraine would look like we are now hearing that it's likely to be in the neighborhood of 750 million dollars and will include more advanced weaponry than what the u.s has
provided to ukraine in before but particularly we are hearing that it's likely to include uh basically drones that are ships that can be go at sea without anyone piloting them that could be used against russian naval capabilities as well as possibly mi-17 helicopters which are capable of being armed with weapons that can take out tanks and are also already in the ukrainian uh you know force which means they know how to fly these things it's not like we're giving them something they've never used before and this aid aaron is being designed to help ukraine fight what it anticipates will be a massive new offensive in the dawn bass in the eastern region where unlike the urban fight of kiev and other cities this is an nbc news special report here's lester holt good day everyone we're coming on the air with breaking news police have arrested the suspected shooter from yesterday's brooklyn new york subway attack following a massive manhunt the suspect is 62-year-old frank r james officials say the suspect put on a gas mask and sent off a canister that filled a subway car with smoke before opening fire on passengers injuring at least 23 people 10 of them hit by gunfire at the height of new york city's rush hour yesterday let's bring in nbc news justice correspondent pete williams pete what can you tell us well according to our affiliate wnbc in new york lester the police were alerted through a tip to their crime stopper system of a possible sighting of frank james in the east village of new york a short time ago this afternoon the police responded and an arrest was made at saint mark's and first avenue in that part of manhattan the suspect was taken to the local police precinct and we're told by several law enforcement officials that they believe that it is frank robert james the man that they have been seeking for the shooting in the subway that apparently he did have some identity on some identification with him when they made the arrest and of course in addition to the physical description and the photos that the police department released last night now lester last night when you were reporting on nightly news the police were calling him a person of interest and then this morning the new york city mayor said he was a suspect and the key factor in changing that is a trace done by alcohol tobacco firearms and explosives of the weapon that was used in the subway shooting atf was able to determine that the gun that was left behind at the crime scene the one that apparently jammed was the weapon that fired the shots and that frank james bought that weapon 11 years ago at a pawn shop in columbus ohio that was one key piece of evidence that moved him from person of interest to suspect the second of course is the fact that there was a u-haul van the keys were left behind at the shooting scene in addition to a credit card that was used to rent the van that van was located last night as you reported on nightly news not far from the subway system not so far from the station that was involved in the shooting it appears that frank james spent the night slept in it last night authorities say they found some table a table some chairs some foam rubber padding in that van and then early this morning around probably around six o'clock he apparently got out of the van entered the subway system and was on the subway system for at least an hour possibly two hours before finally opening fire on the end line train as it headed into the 36th street station and it's even possible leicester authorities are investigating whether he actually used the subway system to get away because he there's there's video that shows him using a metrocard a fast uh scanning card that you can use to get through the turnstiles into the subway system uh the video shows him using that and there's some indication that that metro card was used again yesterday after the shooting so it's possible that he used the subway system to escape from the very shooting that he carried out on the subway although that still remains under investigation it's been a very fast-moving investigation lots has been learned about him about the fact that he has had really no fixed address for the last year or so he lived for a time in pennsylvania then in wisconsin it was in pennsylvania that he rented the u-haul van and also had a storage unit which he then closed down just before coming into new york he's apparently born in the new york city area born in the bronx but relatives have said he doesn't has never really had a long-term job and another factor is he left behind or has posted several social media postings several youtube videos that are full of hate concern about crime criticism of the mayor racist rants uh and and lots of rambling and and that's one thing that federal authorities and state authorities are looking at as they consider what charges to file here lester there are of course the possibility of attempted murder state charges that could be filed in new york but we're told that the federal government is also considering filing charges of its own possibly hate crime charges there are federal statutes that involve that make it a crime to to try to inflict damage or harm people on trains and that could give federal jurisdiction as well as the firearms moving into a firearm and interstate transportation so lots of options for charges that could be filed today and that whole process may now move up now that he appears to be under arrest lester all right peter williams bringing us that breaking news chris jansing is outside the subway stop in brooklyn where all this happened fair to say this was a urban nightmare and also fair to say people really on edge in new york today as they went to public transit chris lester i've spent a good bit of the day talking to commuters here at this subway stop and there is a sense of nervousness that permeated the conversations i had with more than a dozen people just really concerned about getting back on the train and while you can see them certainly breathing a bit of a sigh of relief if indeed the suspect is in custody there are still larger issues that they know the system is dealing with and in fact many of them made a point to say to me i was already nervous before this happened there have been a series of high profile incidents crimes on the mass transit system in new york city crime is up overall in new york city as well as on the subway system and many of the people i spoke to said frankly they simply used it today because they had to one woman who was going to work compared it to the beginning of kovid she said it was the only way i had to get to work and that's how i felt about it today there of course are big picture issues for this city because this really is the lifeblood of this city it's how millions of people travel day in and day out they need to get to where they want to go safely efficiently and for some people there's also obviously a financial component it's the least expensive way to get from point a to point b one thing we did notice today and it's the first thing you see is a police presence there have been a couple of police who have been at the top of the stairs at this particular station all throughout the 472 different stations there are on the subway system across the boroughs of manhattan there have been double the number of police down below a couple of times i went down there there were as many as four to six police officers so that visible presence helped but again a number of the people i talked to said yes but and that but was often followed by and i was surprised by the number of people who brought this up lester by the fact that the camera that was here that's closest to the scene of yesterday's shooting was not operational so clearly the efforts that have been made by the mayor and the governor the promises that they have made to make the subway system safer that message is not getting through what we also saw today was the number of city officials who got on these subway trains as a sign that they feel confident in the new york city subway system but an arrest will not end the issues both here in new york and at mass transit systems around the country lester all right chris jansing in brooklyn forest thank you let me bring in nbc news law enforcement analyst cedric alexander cedric you heard pete going down the timeline of how things transpired yesterday this has been remarkable speed that they have come up with an arrest what happens now to further the investigation what can continue from here lester is that they're going to bring him in they're going to question him certainly he will have the uh option of having an attorney present but this is going to be an ongoing investigation the most important thing here is that mr james had been brought in he's off the streets new york can rest tonight as people travel to and from throughout the subways there in the city but this is going to be an ongoing investigation and it's going to make some determination as to what was his motive because i think that's what people want to know more than anything else what was the motive behind this attack and it has to be determined what others involved if so what role that they play because they would have to be brought in as well so this is going to be interesting lester going forward over the next couple of days so i would say next steps continue the investigation gather as much evidence as we can even though he's in custody yeah of course we want to find out if he had if other attacks might have been planned here all right cedric thank you let me go back if i can to pete williams pete you have some new reporting lester uh we've been sent this photo here i'm going to ask our camera operator to push in on it this is a picture of the arrest that happened just a short time ago in the east village of new york after a crime stoppers tip alerted authorities to the presence of frank james and we're told that this is this photograph shows the arrest just a short time ago uh in the east village after he was uh then after after the arrest was made he was taken to a local uh the local police precinct for booking and we believe that one of the reasons they're they're so confident it's him is not only did he match the physical description but he also had id on him identifying himself as frank robert james the man who was born august 8th of 1959 these are pictures that the new york city new york authorities put out this morning to try to aid in the discovery now there was a crime stoppers tip of a call into the police public tip line that apparently led to the arrest and we've heard some interesting theories about who it was that made that call we don't know who it was yet but in any event that's what led authorities to this scene where the arrest was made there a short time ago all right pete williams thank you again our headline we came on the air to report an arrest in that subway attack in new york brooklyn new york yesterday that concludes our coverage for now we'll have much more this evening on nbc nightly news for all of us here at nbc news i'm lester holt in new york have a good day [Music] good afternoon everybody i'm yasmine vasugin you have been watching an nbc news special report nbc news has just learned police have arrested the suspect in the brooklyn subway shooting and he is now in custody police arrested frank james in manhattan's east village after a tip from crime stoppers the attack at rush hour tuesday morning wounded at least 10 people and left 13 others hurt we're awaiting a news conference from the nypd we'll bring that to you as soon as it begins the suspect has been identified as 62-year-old frank james you're looking at his picture right there on your screens he was initially considered a person of interest but was named the suspect early this morning want to bring in nbc news correspondent jay gray who's standing by for us in brooklyn jay it's good to talk to you this afternoon the city really breathing a sigh of relief after 27 hours in limbo of course that was on the scene yesterday as this story broke and there was already some trepidation in riding the subway system because of the increase in crime how are folks feeling now jay yeah yes man you're absolutely right it was very tense here throughout the morning people very guarded and very concerned with this suspect on the run we've seen smiles and laughter over the last 15 to 20 minutes a lot of people uh very openly relieved that this arrest has been made and feeling a lot better not only about the situation in this neighborhood but riding the subway as you know as so many people understand that subway is really the lifeblood of this city and so having trepidation as you called it uh riding that subway especially the end line which is just a major train for getting in and out of manhattan and into areas like this uh there are a lot of people who will uh feel a lot safer on their ride home from work or school or wherever they may be going this afternoon let's kind of play out how these puzzle pieces came together for police and federal investigators we know that throughout the early morning the suspect james was spotted on security video from the inline from different stations on the inline he apparently boarded and rode the train for several hours according to law enforcement sources before carrying out the attack here now there is no video from the 36th street station that camera as we now know wasn't functioning at the time of the attack as that was going on as they were looking at that video federal agents traced the weapon used in the attack back to james it was purchased legally 11 years ago in ohio so that was another key piece to all of this they do say that it appears he acted alone and then there's those videos that that everyone's been talking about all morning dozens of just irate at times bigoted rants uh and at least one of the videos he he talks about the mayor here eric adams and his effort to reduce crimes in the subways and then goes on to say in others that he wants to talk about a race war uh there's a need for more mass shootings again those are his words and claiming he had the desire to kill certain groups of people but that he didn't want to go to jail apparently did not want to go so desperately that he was on the run for as you talk about just over 27 hours so he is in custody now one other note to add to all of this we learned midday today that the metro card linked to his credit card to james's credit card was used last night so he may have been riding the subway last night just hours after the attack a lot of troubling circumstances there um to say the least but of course everybody happy now that the suspected shooter now is in custody 27 hours out after that horrific attack yesterday morning great for us thank you i want to bring in now retired etf special agent in charge jim cavanaugh jim i just want to give you a heads up we're awaiting this press conference i got about a two-minute warning so if i gotta uh cut in and toss the press conference i'm gonna do that i'm not trying to be rude just want to give you a heads up on that talk to me uh kavanagh because um 27 hours later they have now identified and arrested uh this individual who is being accused of unloading uh bullets on subway riders 10 of those injured 13 others as well due to smoke inhalation what do you make of the timing of this arrest 27 hours later and the fact that it was really because of a tip through the crime stop stoppers yes well that's right jasmine what it is is new york new yorkers got shot up and new yorkers caught him the citizen tip caught him so when we talked yesterday all over the network about leveraging the power of the citizens of new york with law enforcement it's law enforcement and the citizens of new york versus this one guy and that's the power that got him he shot up the citizens the citizens caught him with the crime stoppers tip so it's a good day for the big apple i mean i think everybody should really feel elated about this this guy is an extraordinary criminal this is not a run-of-the-mill criminal that's on the subway or the city streets of any city there's always general crime and the mayor says he's working hard to knock that down but this guy was extraordinary in that he was shooting you know a mass shooting on the subway so this is a big sigh release you live in the city your kids you know you got to feel better about this the cops were all over it the federales were all over it the state was all over it and this is what you get 27 hours once they got that gun trace and laid that on top of the key to the van it was all academic there this case is made he can be convicted in both federal and state court of multiple charges he should never see the light of day again he's too dangerous to be on the street he should be incarcerated for the rest of his life and they can do that with the federal gun charges the murder on a train charges uh you know interstate transportation firearm to commit a felony that's federal and he has estate attempted murder charges at least 10 counts so it's all there you don't need terrorism it's not terrorism technically under the law it did terrorize the citizens and you're all right to call it terrorism because he terrorized but it doesn't fit into that niche in the law it doesn't matter what matters is that he gets imprisoned for his crimes he pays for his crimes and the city's kept safe so jim here's the thing right i was just talking to jay gray i was out there as well it seems as if the press conference this is an nbc news special report here's lester holt and we are coming back on the air now with more on that breaking news we told you about moments ago police have arrested the suspected shooter from yesterday's brooklyn new york subway attack following a massive manhunt a press briefing is underway right now this is john miller of the nypd live from crazy mansion [Music] [Music] this is a mayor adams he's appearing remotely because he's isolating after a uh covid diagnosis we got him our federal agents our state police our first responders from the 9 11 operators to the various men and women from our medical professions we got him it said to new yorkers we want to protect the people of this city and actually hitting those who believe they can bring terror to everyday new yorkers and i wanted to thank you every day for who yourself who helped those passengers who were injured 33 shots but less than 30 hours later we're able to say we begotten thank you commissioner for your leadership job well done and now police commissioner of the city of new york key chancellor 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 crime stoppers tip stopped mr james at 1 42 p.m at the corner of saint mark's place and first 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 i want to commend all of the investigators and analysts who took part in this all hands on death 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 marshal 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 essex for details of the investigation good afternoon everybody i'd like to update the public on yesterday's incident on the subway in brooklyn on the manhattan-bound entrance through the course of this investigation we developed additional information and entities mr frank james our 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 in 1991 1992 and 2007 there for trespass larceny and disorderly conduct so yesterday we recovered video of him prior to the incident entering the kings highway subway station he has the same black cart that he is later recovered on the crime scene the pictures are to my right over here this statement is available electronically 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 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 nine millimeter glock which was recovered at this crime scene was bought was purse chips by mr james in 2011 in ohio we tracked mr james and his last known whereabouts was 7th avenue and 9th street in park slope entering the subway minutes ago thankfully nypd patrol officers from the ninth precinct responded to saint mark's and first avenue where they apprehended him without incident this case was quickly solved using technology video canvassing 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 district attorney from easton uh brienne peace uh and and the coordination and uh within the detective bureau tommy golotti 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 brienne peace good afternoon thank you 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 terrorist 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 justice and bring justice to new yorkers and restore safety and peace of mind to all and will continue to do so as this case proceeds 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's activity or if you have digital information please reach out to us contact the fbi one eight hundred call fbi or you can provide digital media through fbi.gov
slash brooklyn shooting we need to hear from you so we can fully understand all 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 the u.s marshals and the u.s attorney's office and all the members of the fbi 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 carrie farley who spearheaded this investigation they've done an outstanding 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 over to john devito from the epf good afternoon everyone again my name is john devito i'm specialized in charge for atf here in new york state one of the key points that uh dick driscoll pointed out was that we couldn't have done this without the public's help first let me say our thoughts and prayers and actions for the past two days have been with 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 siege which is a unit comprised of highly skilled analyst investigators from atf nypd as well as a myriad of other vital partners whose sole purpose is to collect analyze and disseminate actual intelligence regarding gun violence just imagine a team of dedicated professionals exploiting every nugget of intel from gun violence the firearms and then weaponizing that information to use it against the people that are terrorizing our communities that's your sieging the timeline on this gun's life spans 16 years in five states and i'm very proud to say that late yesterday evening about 12 hours after this attack atf agents 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 utilizing the shooting to our target and now we have our target in custody thank you okay uh we're going to be in that we've told you almost everything we have to say able to answer some very limited questions there was a person who called crime stoppers we're reviewing who exactly made that call the commissioner we'll receive that in another one uh he'll lose in one of his videos to yesterday's date does that date have any significance and is it clear yet what the i think first and foremost we were looking to get this guy off the street before he did any any more than carnage brought any more carnage to the city as to the investigation into the motive and to looking scour in his social media that's still part of the ongoing investigation but again first and foremost we wanted to take him off the street the investigation is continuing into the motive into his social media postings uh bloomberg you said mr james uh walked into a apartment what time was that what was he doing between them that was 9 15 yesterday so the incident occurs at 8 24. so he leaves he exited the 25th street station house shortly after 8 24 the r train pulls in we catch him next going into a 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 and so this is 9am excuse me yes that was him yesterday at 9 15.
all right now mark and do you have any idea where he was previously today any ideas on his whereabouts would you be attracted anyway did he say when he was right his arrest was just literally minutes ago so we haven't even just arrived at the precinct shortly as to his whereabouts that's part of the investigation detectives are out going through video canvases and we're going to backtrack that and that will take literally weeks okay um the two-part question the first is did the nypd previous to yesterday's attack have any um complaints or do they look into any of the cameras being out not just at 36th street but at 45th and 25th and additionally is there any indication that um mr james was going to do any more attacks in new york city yeah as far as doing any more attacks that's again that's part of the investigation our main focus was to take him off the street immediately do you know how he purchased the gun if he had a criminal record you can't have a felony conviction to purchase the gun so he had no felony convictions okay new york what um how are you has the mayor's security detail been returned to its typical size and scope so we're not going to discuss that uh julia pop yes can you take us from the crime stopper tip to the arrest what happened in between how is he located and the crime stopper tip today yep hey juliet good afternoon crime stopper tip comes in reports that the mail is in the mcdonald's on sixth street and and first avenue in the ninth precinct down on the lower east side in east village officers respond to the mcdonald's he's not in the mcdonald's they start driving around the neighborhood looking for him they see him on the corner of saint markson first and they take him into custody he no incident and take him into custody you do an audit of cameras and subway stations just to make sure that they're all working in the future so it's easier to catch up with you so the the camera systems in the in the subway system are not nypd cameras they're they're owned and maintained by the mta we have access to them we do regularly look and see which cameras are working which ones are not but the responsibility for those cameras belongs to the mta uh tony are you going to make the officers who made the afternoon available are you going to identify them uh a little bit more about his motivation about what he intended to do um we we have witnesses on the train who said he was sitting in the back corner of the second car and he popped uh the smoke grenade and we have one witness who says uh what did you do he goes oops and then he pops the two brandishes the firearm and fires 33 times that that we are in the process and we are asking for anybody's help who is on that subway train or on that platform to reach out to uh to the uh crime stoppers at 1-800-877 tips with any information we're still looking for witnesses and anybody who has information who was on the scene okay new york times can you tell us anything more about the clock that this guy needs we heard initially that it can jam i know from what experts say that that clocks aren't supposed to do that it's kind of one of the selling points a little bit more about the fact of the case or well our crime scene is still processing that scene it goes to the lab and they'll give us a report that's it's still very early in the investigation for that all right okay man uh the statute is being held under uh that requires no nexus to any foreign terrorism if this is in its own it's a discrete charge that's correct the the the statute is titled terrorism and other violent attacks in mass transportation there's a federal interest of course in protecting mass transportation hubs and infrastructure and so that's the jurisdiction but we we're not going to comment further or we're still investigating the motive and things like that so can't come further all right last question with juliette yes uh you can talk about his contact with social services here in new york that's going to be part of the investigation as well so we were not able to speak to that at this moment so after his he had arrest in the 90s and then did he like disappear did he was he not in new york city anymore that's part of our investigation as well julie thank you you're then the last last question okay thank you i'm wondering if there's uh do we have any motive in terms of sunset park why sunset park or was it random no idea so uh just to close we also want to acknowledge our partners sometimes chelsea 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 that as the com as the commissioner said uh was able to give him very few choices um in terms of where to go so we appreciate your efforts as well thank you very much [Music] news conference concluding there at police plaza in new york city the mayor of new york city uh announcing we got him the him is frank robert james the suspect seen here in this surveillance video who entered the subway system yesterday and staged that attack on a train car shooting at least 10 people injuring many many more let's bring in nbc news justice correspondent pete williams pete this sounds like detective work by the numbers totally quite literally by the numbers lester let me show you a photograph that indicates why that is such an app metaphor this is a close up picture of what is probably the key evidence this is from the weapon that was used in the shooting and you can see the serial number on this glock nine millimeter model 17 that authorities say you can see the sort of white marks on it that they say it looks like the owner of the gun tried to obliterate the serial numbers now i can tell you from having covered atf over the years it's almost impossible to do this even if you even if you can't see them with the eye they still have a way that they can recover these serial numbers but they didn't even have to do that they found these serial numbers that allowed the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms and explosives to figure out who bought this gun which was used in the shooting yesterday and the answer that came back yesterday was frank james frank robert james born august 8 of 1965 in columbus ohio so that was the key piece of evidence here but there's some other information that's in the court documents that were just filed here the authorities say that the u-haul was rented from a u-haul facility in philadelphia on april 11th and then the new york city police authorities have a video of it driving over the verrazano narrows bridge about 4 00 a.m yesterday so he came into brooklyn according to authorities at about four o'clock yesterday morning and then they say at 8 40 sorry then at around 6 o'clock he gets on to the subway and then after the shooting they say at about 8 40 a surveillance camera records him walking up the stairs and leaving the new york city transit n's uh train subway stop on 25th street so you heard them saying that in the news conference that it appears that after the shooting he goes across the platform gets out of the train the end subway line train gets into the adjacent subway line rides at one more stop up to 25th street the next stop up north up closer to manhattan walks up the stairs and and gets out of the subway system and then of course you hear today that somebody called the authorities to say he was trying to have lunch at mcdonald's and the police responded then simply saw him walking on the street lester pete williams thank you for that let's go to nbc news correspondent jesse kerr she was outside the precinct where we believe james is being held right now what can you tell us yeah lester we just spoke with some police officials a short time ago and they confirmed that frank james is inside this ninth precinct behind us here i asked if we have any time on and when he might be marched out of this precinct they told us at this point he he's still being interviewed they're still going through that arresting process and of course there's always paperwork involved in that and so frank james as we understand it from nypd is currently inside that facility in fact one of the people seen in the picture right there with frank james was just standing out here on the sidewalk in front of us a few moments ago and there are people of course several media organizations out here right now but they're also just people who live and are walking through the neighborhood standing here right now including a woman i spoke with who said she lives across the street from here saw what was unfolding and had to come downstairs to watch what was going on across the street in front of where she lives and she is someone who says she has turned away from using the subway because of concerns over safety and so now she uses the bus among many new yorkers who have been thinking about safety and public transit certainly in the last 24 hours if not the last several months yeah a lot of tension in the city on edge jesse kirsch thank you for that reporting we'll continue to watch for that suspect to be moved let's bring in nbc news law enforcement analyst cedric alexander cedric a lot a lot of information uh imparted in the last few minutes what are some of your observations well first of all i think it's a clear observation and all of this leicester is that law enforcement at every conceivable level along with the public and with support of the local media as well too played a very important part in this arrest being made here uh not moments ago so i think that's a key element in this and that is certainly something i think overall that city and that community there in new york city feel very good about is that you had collaboration everyone working together not just law enforcement but community those involved in crime stoppers and of course media as well too that is huge huge arrests good day for new york knowing that this guy's off the street and people who are traveling home tonight can travel home with a sense of peace but always being thoughtful in terms of their safety and where they are cedric thank you i want to go back to pete williams again pete one of the other things we learned in that news conference is that he's going to be charged with a federal crime a terror attack against mass transit do we know why the the feds get the first shot at him yeah there's some discussion back and forth about whether it'd be quicker to do this in the federal system or the state system and i think the decision was the federal courts are going to move a little faster here i wouldn't call this a terrorism charge by the way even though that's technically the name of the statute it's not in the se it's not in the terrorism section of the statutes there's a number of crimes two or three crimes together in the statute books that make it a federal crime to attack trains or people on trains they have their choice of a couple of them and and this is the one they've decided to use there's just i'm looking at the charges right now lester there's just the single charge here of uh this uh interfering with a train interfering with a with a federally protected rail system and that's the charge they've decided to do but remember this is early on they can always file more charges later this is the this is the placeholder that allow them to get him into the federal system and start the judicial process but they can always add firearms charges later there are no as you know there are no sort of murder charges in the federal system or attempted murder charges as such but they can always add other other charges as the investigation goes along all right pete williams you'll continue to work this story we will as well as we prepare for nbc nightly news until then i'm lester holt thank you for watching good day hi everybody i'm yasmin vasugin and for allison morris you're watching nbc news now here's what's happening breaking just in the last hour the nypd arresting subway shooting suspect frank james how a tip led police to the alleged shooter severe storms carving a path of destruction in the heartland nearly two dozen people injured after a tornado tore through texas were tracking the massive storm and don't ditch your
2022-04-19 03:13
