By TOM HAYS and BOBBY CAINA CALVAN
NEW YORK (AP) — The person charged with opening fireplace on subway riders on a practice in Brooklyn was ordered held with out bail Thursday at his first court docket look, the place prosecutors advised a choose he terrified all of New York Metropolis.
Introduced right into a Brooklyn federal court docket with out handcuffs, a subdued Frank James, 62, softly answered normal questions on whether or not he understood the costs and the aim of the transient listening to. His lawyer later requested the general public to not prejudge him.
James was arrested in Manhattan after calling a police tip line to say the place he was Wednesday, a day after the nightmarish rush-hour assault left 10 individuals with gunshot wounds and numerous others fearing for his or her security on the nation’s busiest subway system.
Authorities say he unleashed smoke bombs and dozens of bullets, in a practice stuffed with morning commuters. He’s charged with a federal terrorism offense that applies to assaults on mass transit programs — authorities say there’s at the moment no proof linking him to terror organizations and are nonetheless making an attempt to derive a motive.
“The defendant terrifyingly opened fireplace on passengers on a crowded subway practice, interrupting their morning commute in a means the town hasn’t seen in additional than 20 years,” Assistant U.S. Legal professional Sara Ok. Winik stated. “The defendant’s assault was premeditated, was rigorously deliberate and it brought about terror among the many victims and our total metropolis.”
Whereas James was in court docket, Hourari Benkada was in a hospital mattress with a bullet wound in his leg.
Benkada stated he was simply ft away from the gunman on the practice and has struggled to sleep since. Tuesday’s horrific scene retains replaying in his thoughts.
“I’m nonetheless shocked about it,” Benkada stated in a video interview Thursday, grimacing in ache as he recalled the assault.
He had headphones on, music blaring, as smoke started filling the subway automotive. He initially thought it was a small fireplace. However the smoke “stored escalating to black, black smoke like 9/11,” he stated, “and the entire practice was pitch-black.”
Then there have been gunshots, screams and a scramble for security. Benkada stated he tried to protect a pregnant girl from getting hit through the mayhem, and as individuals pushed ahead, a gunshot tore into his knee.
The capturing victims, who vary in age from 16 to 60, are all anticipated to outlive.
Prosecutors described James in court docket papers as a calculating shooter who wore a disguise — a building worker-style laborious hat and jacket that have been shed proper after the assault — and fired “in chilly blood at terrified passengers who had nowhere to run and nowhere to cover.”
However protection lawyer Mia Eisner-Grynberg cautioned in opposition to “a rush to judgment.”
“Preliminary experiences in a case like this are sometimes inaccurate,” she stated outdoors court docket. She famous that James alerted police to his whereabouts, 30 hours right into a manhunt that included cellphone alerts to most of the people.
As soon as he knew he was needed, “he known as Crime Stoppers to assist,” Eisner-Grynberg stated.
The manhunt started specializing in downtown Manhattan after police received a tweeted tip with a photograph of somebody who resembled James, adopted by 911 calls reporting different attainable sightings. Ultimately, James known as the Crime Stoppers tip line to say he was at a McDonald’s within the East Village neighborhood, though he was gone when police received there. Bystanders noticed him and flagged down officers as they searched the neighborhood, in the end apprehending James a couple of blocks from the McDonald’s.
Two cousins, Zack Dahhan and Mohammad Cheikh, stated they glimpsed the person and rapidly regarded up James’ needed poster on their telephones.
“And we are saying, ‘Oh, my God, that is the man!’” as quite a lot of individuals started to comply with him, Dahhan stated. The cousins stated they pointed officers towards him.
James’ attorneys agreed Thursday to his being jailed, however stated they may search bail later.
On the request of James’ attorneys, Justice of the Peace Roanne Mann stated she would ask for James to get “psychiatric consideration,” in addition to magnesium tablets for leg cramps, on the federal lockup in Brooklyn the place he’s being held.
Authorities say a trove of proof connects James to the assault. His financial institution card, his cellphone and a key to a van he had rented have been discovered on the capturing scene. Officers additionally discovered the handgun they stated was used within the capturing; tracing data present James bought the gun from a licensed gun seller in Ohio in 2011.
In court docket papers, prosecutors prompt James had the means to hold out extra extra assaults, noting that he had ammunition and different gun-related objects in a Philadelphia storage unit.
The New York Metropolis native had been dwelling in Milwaukee and Philadelphia just lately.
Investigators have been analyzing many hours of movies that James posted on social media, as just lately as Monday, during which he delivered profanity-laced diatribes about racism, society’s therapy of Black individuals, homelessness and violence. He additionally mentioned his historical past of psychiatric therapy and complained about how New York’s mayor is coping with homeless individuals on subways and with gun violence.
He additionally talked about capturing individuals, prosecutors famous in court docket papers.
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Related Press journalists Jim Mustian, Jennifer Peltz, Michael R. Sisak, Deepti Hajela and Seth Wenig contributed.
