NEW YORK --
The person charged with opening hearth in a Brooklyn subway automobile full of individuals was jailed with out bail Thursday as prosecutors advised a choose he terrified all of New York Metropolis.
Introduced right into a Brooklyn federal courtroom with out handcuffs, a subdued Frank James, 62, softly answered customary questions on whether or not he understood the fees 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 prepare filled with morning commuters. He is charged with a federal terrorism offense that applies to assaults on mass transit methods -- authorities say there's at present no proof linking him to terror organizations and are nonetheless making an attempt to derive a motive.
"The defendant terrifyingly opened hearth on passengers on a crowded subway prepare, interrupting their morning commute in a manner the town hasn't seen in additional than 20 years," Assistant U.S. Legal professional Sara Ok. Winik mentioned, apparently referring to the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults.
"The defendant's assault was premeditated, was fastidiously deliberate and it prompted terror among the many victims and our whole metropolis," she mentioned.
Whereas James was in courtroom, Hourari Benkada was in a hospital mattress with a bullet wound in his leg.
Benkada mentioned he was simply toes away from the gunman on the prepare and has struggled to sleep since. Tuesday's horrific scene retains replaying in his thoughts.
"I am nonetheless shocked about it," Benkada mentioned 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 automobile. He initially thought it was a small hearth. However the smoke "stored escalating to black, black smoke like 9/11," he mentioned, "and the entire prepare was pitch-black."
Then there have been gunshots, screams and a scramble for security. Benkada mentioned he tried to defend a pregnant girl from getting hit through the mayhem, and as individuals pushed ahead, a gunshot tore into his knee.
The taking pictures victims, who vary in age from 16 to 60, are all anticipated to outlive.
Prosecutors described James in courtroom papers as a calculating shooter who wore a disguise -- a development worker-style laborious hat and jacket that had 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 legal professional Mia Eisner-Grynberg cautioned in opposition to "a rush to judgment."
"Preliminary studies in a case like this are sometimes inaccurate," she mentioned outdoors courtroom. She famous that James alerted police to his whereabouts, 30 hours right into a manhunt that included cellphone alerts to most people.
As soon as he knew he was needed, "he known as Crime Stoppers to assist," Eisner-Grynberg mentioned.
The manhunt started specializing in downtown Manhattan after police received a tip from a sharp-eyed highschool junior on a images class tour.
Jack Griffin, 17, mentioned he was on the lookout for topics for photos when his eye was drawn to a person sitting on a bench with a duffel bag, resting amid the bustle of a avenue close to Chinatown.
"As quickly as I noticed him, my first intuition was: 'That is him,"' Griffin mentioned. He snapped some images of the person, who mumbled one thing and rapidly moved on. Then Griffin despatched his images to police, who dispatched officers to the realm.
Ultimately, police received 911 studies of different doable sightings -- and so they received a name from James, saying he was at a McDonald's within the East Village neighborhood. He was gone when police received there, however bystanders noticed him and flagged down officers as they searched the neighborhood. James was apprehended just a few blocks from the McDonald's.
Two cousins, Zack Dahhan and Mohammad Cheikh, mentioned they glimpsed the person and unexpectedly seemed up James' needed poster on their telephones.
"And we are saying, `Oh, my God, that is the man!"' as a lot of individuals started to comply with him, Dahhan mentioned. The cousins mentioned they pointed officers towards him.
James' legal professionals agreed Thursday to his being jailed, however mentioned they may search bail later.
On the request of James' legal professionals, Justice of the Peace Roanne Mann mentioned 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 is 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 had been discovered on the taking pictures scene. Officers additionally discovered the handgun they mentioned was used within the taking pictures; tracing data present James bought the gun from a licensed gun seller in Ohio in 2011.
In courtroom papers, prosecutors instructed James had the means to hold out extra extra assaults, noting that he had ammunition and different gun-related gadgets in a Philadelphia storage unit.
The New York Metropolis native had been dwelling in Milwaukee and Philadelphia just lately.
Investigators had been inspecting 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 taking pictures individuals, prosecutors famous in courtroom papers.
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Related Press journalists Jim Mustian, Michael R. Sisak, Deepti Hajela and Seth Wenig contributed.
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