New York authorities have identified Frank James, 62, as a 'person of interest' amid an ongoing manhunt for the gunman who donned a reflective vest when he opened fire on subway commuters in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood on Tuesday, wounding at least 29 individuals who needed further medical treatment.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has released images of James, who is now a wanted man.
"This is Frank James who is a person of interest in this investigation. Any information can be directed to @NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS," tweeted the New York City Police Department (NYPD) on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
Officials repeatedly stressed that James is only linked to the incident via a Monday U-Haul van purchase in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. James has addresses in the states of Philadelphia and Wisconsin.
The U-Haul in question was linked to the shooting some hours after it took place, with NYPD leadership announcing that detectives should be on lookout for the van, which had Arizona license plates.
At one point, the NYPD's bomb squad swarmed the rental van to assess the potential threat. As of late, the van was seen in Brooklyn's Gravesend section, according to officials.
The NYPD also issued a description of the suspect, whose name has not been released.
"The suspect is a dark-skinned male and was wearing a neon-orange vest and a grey-colored sweatshirt," said NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell during a Tuesday news conference.
A $50,000 reward has been posted for information that leads to the arrest of the unnamed individual.
Investigators retrieved a variety of weaponry from the Brooklyn scene, including a Glock 9mm handgun, three extended magazines, at least two detonated smoke grenades, two non-detonated smoke grenades and a hatchet, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James W. Essig.
Witnesses have claimed that they believe the suspect may have done much more damage if his gun did not jam mid-assault. Officials have confirmed that the gunman's semi-automatic weapon jammed.
Surveillance cameras are unlikely to yield helpful footage, as there was an alleged malfunction of the system at the time of the incident. A U-Haul key was also taken in as evidence.
"We’re going to work with the NYPD to capture all that video to find out where this criminal may have come in or out of the system," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber told CNN's Jake Tapper.
U-Haul is cooperating with the NYPD, and has since produced a rental agreement showing the van reservation for pickup occurred at 2:01 p.m. local time on Monday and was only requested for two days.
The gunman--believed to be acting alone--deployed makeshift smokescreens before a barrage filled the subway with smoke and coated the platform with victims' blood.
"Any time you have a person that uses a smoke device, you have a person who discharges a weapon in the system, that appeared to place a gas mask on his face, that is a person that is intentionally trying terrorize our system," New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, told MSNBC.
Earlier in the day, the mayor issued a video statement asserting that city officials "will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized even by a single individual."
The Tuesday incident comes amid a broad 68% increase in transit crime. An NYPD summary of such data highlighted that transit crimes have returned to pre-pandemic numbers.
The attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, per the NYPD, although authorities have yet to rule anything out.