Police intensify manhunt for New York subway shooter

New York police heightened their hunt Wednesday for fugitive gunman who shot 10 people in a subway car last day, putting a city already  rising gun violence further on edge.

Police have distinguished 62-year-old Frank James as a suspect in the assault, in which they say he exploded two smoke cannisters on board the train as it was maneuvering into a station in Brooklyn, then started shooting.

Nobody was killed in the assault, which additionally left 13 others harmed as they mixed to escape the station or endured smoke inward breath. None of the casualties experienced perilous wounds.

James had posted several videos on YouTube of himself delivering long, sometimes aggressive political tirades. He also criticized New York mayor Eric Adams, who called on residents to be “vigilant” Wednesday.

Adams, speaking on NBC’s Today show, said police had stepped up his security “out of an overabundance of caution” and that they were taking “the necessary steps” until the gunman was apprehended.

“You have a person that carried out a very sick action to harm innocent people in our system,” he said.

He told MSNBC that there was no sign James had had an accomplice.

Police later recovered a Glock 17 nine-millimeter handgun, three additional ammunition magazines and a hatchet from the scene. US media reported that James’ credit card and keys to a van he had rented were also found.

The 36th Street station in Brooklyn, where the train arrived as the attack was being carried out, was heavily patrolled by police on Wednesday as travellers waited for their trains.

Commuter Laura Swalm said she was “more alert” after the shooting. “Definitely looking around. And making sure, you know, it feels a little safe,” the 49-year-old from New Jersey told AFP.

Others were more defiant. “No one is going to drive me away from the subway. The subway is in my DNA,” said 56-year-old Dennis Sughrue.

The gunman put on a gas mask just as the train was arriving at the station, then opened the smoke canisters and fire 33 times in total, police said.

“All you see is like a smoke, black smoke bomb going off, and then … people bum rushing to the back,” one of the gunshot victims, Hourari Benkada, told CNN, referring to a charge by passengers towards the door at the end of the car.

Benkada, speaking from his hospital bed, said he had boarded the first car at 59th Street and sat next to the gunman — but with his headphones on he did not notice anything until smoke began filling the car.

He said he did not understand that there were shots at first, and that he was trying to comfort a pregnant woman next to him.

“I got pushed and that’s when I got shot in the back of my knee,” he said.

Benkada said the shooting lasted for perhaps a minute, and that he heard about 10 shots.

The projectile went through the rear of his knee and out the side, leaving an opening “the size of a quarter,” he said. “I lost such a lot of blood.”

Shootings in New York have risen for the current year, and the increase in brutal weapon wrongdoing has been a focal concentration for Adams since he got down to business in January. Through April 3, shooting episodes rose to 296 from 260 during a similar period last year, as per police measurements.

Careless firearm regulations and an unavoidably ensured right to remain battle ready have over and over obstructed endeavors to clip down on the quantity of weapons available for use in the United States, in spite of a larger part of Americans backing more prominent controls.