The suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting, Frank James, "cried like a baby" at an East Village pizzeria when police officers were searching for him after the subway attack, according to Gentrid Hasangjekaj, a pizzeria worker, as cited by the New York Post.
Per the worker, on Wednesday, when a man he now recognises as James entered the pizzeria, he was teary-eyed and seeking help.
"He says, ‘Oh, I lost my family’, this and that, and I felt bad. I thought, ‘Whatever, let me help’. I didn’t know who he was. I gave him water. I gave him napkins”, Hasangjekaj said.
Hasangjekaj added that James asked him for his phone after he entered the pizzeria and called a number in Virginia Beach listed as belonging to a man and woman.
In turn, police said that they knew of the reported pizza-shop encounter and that they would be investigating it, according to the newspaper.
“We’re aware of the information, and the squad will be investigating”, a police source said, as quoted by the New York Post.
James left the pizzeria after about 30 minutes, according to Hasangjekaj.
Earlier, a US court did not allow Frank James, accused of the shooting in New York's subway, to be released on bail.
The shooting at the 36th Street subway station in the Brooklyn area occurred on Tuesday. The attacker threw smoke grenades in a train car and fired 33 pistol shots at passengers, wounding 29 people.
It took law enforcement officers about 30 hours to find James. He was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon in the East Village quarter in downtown New York. During the arrest, he did not resist.