Mayor Eric Adams, top cop Keechant Sewell, MTA CEO Janno Lieber, members of ATF, and fellow police officials honored Wednesday the officers and civilians instrumental in aiding the capture of alleged Brooklyn mass shooter Frank James.
Just over one week since an act of domestic terrorism inside a Brooklyn subway station rocked the Big Apple, leaving 23 riders with bullet wounds and smoke inhalation, the NYPD and Mayor thanked those who refused to let a terrorist escape justice.
“Their actions remind us every day, in every corner of our city we are surrounded by heroes. Some who wear the NYPD uniform, and others who live and work in New York, but are often the strongest allies and our proudest partners in the NYPD,” Commissioner Sewell said. “The work of these officers and civilians is further proof that public safety in New York City is truly a shared responsibility.”
“Working together we got a violent offender off the streets,” Sewell added.
Adams shared his anxiety over not being able to be on the scene to aid in the effort, but these worries he said were quelled by the constant communication between the police commissioner, officers running to help despite not knowing if it was a terror attack, the MTA’s response in getting passengers away from the station where the shooting originated, and the videos of New Yorkers aiding each other.
“If a rat rose in his own hole it is because we closed around him and he had nowhere else to go. He was smart to turn himself in. That is why he turned himself in. Not because he was altruistic. It was because of the job we did that gave him no other choice but to turn himself in. We did it right. Do not let naysayers tell you that as a city we did not respond correctly. We saw that threat, we identified the threat, we arrested the threat and our city is better because of that. So those who wore blue uniforms or blue jeans, everyday New Yorkers came together,” Adams said
Inside police headquarters on April 20, Sewell recounted the horror of when James allegedly tossed a gas canister and brandished a glock, spraying 33 bullets into a crowded commute aboard a Manhattan-bound N train that ultimately came to a halt at the 36th Street Station in Sunset Park. Riders poured out of the train along with a cloud of smoke and then an over 30-hour-long manhunt began.
There were those brave enough who stayed at the blood-drenched scene, hunched over the victims and attempted to stop the bleeding until help arrived. It was these brave men and women – New Yorker helping New Yorker – that police officials thanked.
They were not the only ones, however. The city officially recognized, with framed proclamations, the keen-eyed citizens who led to the ultimate arrest of James, including the now-famous Zack Tahhan. The Syrian native reportedly spotted James on a security camera and immediately called 911.
Proclamations were awarded to members of the 9th Precinct who affected the arrest, members of Detective Bureau Brooklyn South, Detective Borough Brooklyn South Homicide Task Force, the ATF, the United States Marshall, and other police officials.
Another set of proclamations were awarded to civilians who helped identify Frank in the East Village, the youngest being 17-year-old Jack Griffin who photographed the suspect walking through St. Mark’s Place and shared it on Twitter and alerted the police all while out on a field trip with his photography class.
