New York City subway shooter gets life in prison
A man who sprayed a New York City subway car with bullets during rush hour, wounding 10 people and sparking a citywide manhunt, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison after several of his victims tearfully and angrily recounted their ongoing trauma.
Frank James, 64, pleaded guilty earlier this year to terrorism charges in the April 12, 2022, mass shooting aboard a Manhattan-bound train. He received a life sentence on 10 counts and 10 years for an 11th count of discharging a firearm during an act of violence.
Three of his victims spoke in court of the physical and emotional pain they continue to experience more than a year after the attack in a packed subway car. They described the panic and the splattered blood on the train, and how they used their own clothes as tourniquets to stanch the bleeding from victims' wounds.
“I have not been able to make sense of it,” said a young man identified as B.K. At times his voice cracked as he spoke and his eyes turned glassy from tears.
Another victim, a 51-year-old man identified as L.C., told the court he had post-traumatic stress disorder and thoughts of suicide.
L.C., who said he worked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority at the time of the shooting, bought an e-bike to avoid riding trains. When he regained his confidence and returned to the subway, he relived the horror of the shooting upon seeing a man wearing a vest similar to the one James had worn.
“I immediately thought of you, Frank James,” the victim said, his voice booming with anger.
Another victim, who later identified himself as Fitim Gjeloshi, 21, began to share his own story with words of forgiveness — “I don't blame him. He needs help.” — then began to sob.
“I can't do this,” he said, walking out of court. He later returned to hear the judge sentence James.
During his own 15-minute address to the court, James expressed contrition for his actions but criticized the country's mental health system, saying it had failed especially people of color like him.
But he said his was not a “sob story.”
“I alone am responsible and no one else for that attack,” he said. He added that his violence was not due to animus toward any race or sexual orientation.
Reading from a handwritten statement, he recalled reading a news article about a young Black man who died in a subway car after being put in a chokehold by another rider who later said he was concerned about his erratic behavior and saw him as a threat. He was referring to the case of Jordan Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator who became homeless and by most accounts was suffering from mental illness.
“People keep criminalizing the people who need help,” he said, adding that Neely was one such person who “was screaming out for help.”
U.S. District Court Judge William Kuntz was unconvinced, telling James that what he did was “pure evil.”