NEW YORK (AP) -- A gunman wearing a gas mask set off smoke grenades and fired a barrage of bullets inside a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, wounding at least 10 people Tuesday, authorities said. Police were trying to track down the renter of a van possibly connected to the violence.
Chief of Detectives James Essig said investigators weren't sure whether the man, identified as Frank R. James, 62, had any link to the subway attack.
Authorities were looking at the man's apparent social media posts, some of which led officials to tighten security for New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell called the posts "concerning."
The attack transformed the morning commute into a scene of horror: a smoke-filled underground train, an onslaught of at least 33 bullets, screaming riders running through a station and bloodied people lying on the platform as others administered aid.
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Five gunshot victims were in critical condition but expected to survive. At least a dozen people who escaped gunshot wounds were treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries.
Sewell said the attack was not being investigated as terrorism, but that she was "not ruling out anything." The shooter's motive was unknown.
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Investigators believe the shooter's gun jammed and kept him from firing more, said two law enforcement officials who weren't authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Essig said police found the weapon, along with extended magazines, a hatchet, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades, a black garbage can, a rolling cart, gasoline and the key to a U-Haul van.
That sure sounds like a terrorist attack.
But it can't be terrorism, because the suspect is... Black.
Only white men conduct terrorist attacks, doncha know.
Rambling, profanity-filled YouTube videos apparently posted by James, who is Black, are replete with Black nationalist rhetoric, violent language and bigoted comments, some of them directed at other Black people. One, posted April 11, criticizes crime against Black people and says drastic action is needed to change things.
Not terrorism! Just using violence against civilians to achieve a political purpose!
But not white, therefore, not terrorism!
A 16-year-old girl was slashed in the face in a broad-daylight attack steps from a Bronx subway station last week, police said Tuesday.
The teen was walking on the sidewalk on White Plains Road near East 219th Street -- just outside the Nos. 2 and 5 subway station -- around 4 p.m. Friday when an unidentified menace approached her, cops said.
The attacker then slashed her in the face, causing a "serious physical injury," police said.
A surveillance photo of the suspect in the slashing a teen girl on White Plains Road near East 219th Street.The unidentified menace slashed the teen girl on White Plains Road near East 219th Street, cops said. NYPD
The teen was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center, where she was listed in serious but stable condition, cops said.
The masked assailant -- shown in surveillance footage with his hood pulled up and carrying a backpack -- is still being sought by cops.