Essig said that James was known to local law enforcement, and has ties to Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York City. He had nine prior arrests in New York, from 1992 to 1998, and three arrests in New Jersey, in 1991, 1992, and 2007.
Among the photos of James that the NYPD shared on Tuesday was a screenshot from a YouTube video from “prophetoftruth88,” an account that appeared to belong to James.
The YouTube channel had hundreds of videos, many of them extended rants in which he expressed racist and derogatory views, including against Black people and other people of color. He also complained about unhoused people on the NYC subway and criticized Adams’ policies, and in one video called 9/11 “the most beautiful day in the history of this country.”
Sewell said Tuesday that authorities were aware of “concerning” social media posts that may be connected to James, and as a result, the mayor’s security detail would be tightened “in an abundance of caution.”
When asked why police hadn’t yet apprehended the suspect in an interview with WNYC on Wednesday morning before the arrest, Adams deflected the question by lauding the cooperation of law enforcement agencies and their work in identifying the U-Haul van and James’ social media accounts.
“This is actually an amazing turnaround with the lack of information that we had,” he said.
New York City employs about 36,000 police officers, and AM New York reported in January that approximately 3,500 of them are assigned to the NYPD’s transit bureau. However, the New York Times reported that no officers were present at the Sunset Park station at the time of the shooting, although cops did patrol the station earlier that morning.
Authorities also revealed that the Sunset Park station’s security camera was malfunctioning, raising questions about security on the transit system. The New York City subway system has a vast network of surveillance cameras, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority said last September that it had installed cameras at all 472 subway stations.
“If you are a criminal who preys on those who use our system, you will have your image captured and be put on the express track to justice. The image will be delivered to the police, and the police will use it to find you,” MTA Chief Safety Officer Patrick Warren said at the time.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber told CBS News on Wednesday that the broken camera at the station was due to a possible server issue. Lieber added that there is “an enormous range of video” from other stations on that particular subway line “that there are images of this fellow that are going to be found.”
Neither the NYPD nor the mayor’s office has control over the subway security cameras, Adams said.
“It’s under the control of the state. The camera system is controlled by the MTA,” he told WNYC. “They are cooperating with us to assist us in finding out what happened at the train station. We don’t have a full understanding of that as of this moment, but that is the control of the MTA.”
Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/clarissajanlim/frank-james-brooklyn-subway-shooting-suspect