Brooklyn subway shooting suspect will have a court hearing on terrorism charges

Brooklyn subway shooting suspect will have a court hearing on terrorism charges

Transcript¹

Police in New York City say they're not sure why a man boarded a subway car during rush hour Tuesday morning and fired 33 times. Authorities have arrested Frank R. James but they don't know a motive².

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Today, Frank R. James has a court appearance on federal terrorism charges. He's the man accused of entering a crowded subway train car on Tuesday morning, setting off smoke grenades and opening fire with a gun. Ten people were hit by bullets, 13 others injured in the understandable panic. NPR's Quil Lawrence joins us from New York. Quil, good morning.

QUIL LAWRENCE, BYLINE³: Good morning.

INSKEEP: What's known about Mr. James?

LAWRENCE: He was born in New York. He's lived in many other places, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee. He's 62 years old. He's got a string of criminal charges against him in the 1990s, but no felonies. Police say that if he'd had a felony, he wouldn't have been able to purchase the 9 mm handgun, which NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said he bought out of state.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JAMES ESSIG: The gun used in this, a 9 mm Glock, which was recovered at this crime scene, was purchased by Mr. James in 2011 in Ohio.

LAWRENCE: And that was the pistol that was discovered at the crime scene and was traced back to James. The rest is whatever we can figure out from these long, bigoted⁴, ranting⁵ videos he posted online, which include references to his own possible mental health issues and criticism of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and crime in the city.

INSKEEP: So we get a sense there that any motive here is going to be rather confused at best, but what other evidence might suggest what he intended?

LAWRENCE: I mean, it seems like he was preparing for something big. The police found this rented van. They found gasoline, more smoke grenades, a hatchet⁶. And in - there was more ammunition⁷ abandoned at the scene. But also, in what appeared to be his former residences, there was ammunition and weapons discovered. So it's not easy to say what else he might have been planning, whether this attack went as he planned it. It's unclear.

INSKEEP: In any event, he's going to do no more because he was apprehended⁹ yesterday. There have been so many stories about the chase for him and the way that the police tried to track him down in the city. How, in fact, was he apprehended?

LAWRENCE: Yeah. So he was named as a person of interest when they found the keys for the rented van. And then the police flooded traditional media, as well as social media, with pictures and information about him. And then they started scanning surveillance footage. The police chief, Keechant Sewell, said that they shrunk his world very quickly. They tracked him getting back on to a train and then going into Manhattan. However, it's just - it's not clear that all of this necessarily mattered. What seems to have mattered were tip lines. Several people in the public say they've called in. But police sources have told the Associated Press that one of the people who called in was James himself, and he said he was in a McDonald's in lower Manhattan. And that is, indeed, where police found him - on a corner nearby, about 30 hours after the attack. They took him in without incident.

INSKEEP: In other words, he seemed to be ready to come in, according to this report.

LAWRENCE: Yeah. If he indeed called the tip line on himself and said, come and get me, yes, he seemed to have no other plan other than getting arrested. But this is all speculation¹⁰.

INSKEEP: The subway is so central to New York City life. What's it like to be in the city now?

LAWRENCE: Yeah, you know, it really is like the bloodstream of the city. I was on the subway on the day it happened, only a couple of hours later, on the same route. And, you know, New Yorkers are tough, but they've been through a lot. And there's already a lot of COVID anxiety, people looking to see who's wearing a mask on the subway and who isn't. And after this, you know, people had to get back on the subway. He was still at large Tuesday afternoon. So, you know, kids had to go back home on the subway. People had to get back on their commute¹¹. So there's a lot of anxiety.

Gun violence is up. Last night, just a couple of hours after James was arrested, there was a teenager grazed by a bullet outside one of Brooklyn's busiest subway hubs. And there have been several other gun crimes committed in the time that it took to apprehend⁸ James. So Mayor Eric Adams was elected as a tough-on-crime Democrat¹². It's kind of hard to see, though, what he can do about someone buying a gun in a different state and bringing it to the city, planning this sort of attack.

INSKEEP: NPR's Quil Lawrence is in New York City. Quil, thanks so much.

LAWRENCE: Thanks, Steve.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 motive   

n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的

参考例句：

• The police could not find a motive for the murder.警察不能找到谋杀的动机。
• He had some motive in telling this fable.他讲这寓言故事是有用意的。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 bigoted   

adj.固执己见的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• He is so bigoted that it is impossible to argue with him.他固执得不可理喻。
• I'll concede you are not as bigoted as some.我承认你不象有些人那么顽固。

5 ranting   

v.夸夸其谈( rant的现在分词 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• Mrs. Sakagawa stopped her ranting. 坂川太太戛然中断悲声。 来自辞典例句
• He was ranting about the murder of his dad. 他大叫她就是杀死他父亲的凶手。 来自电影对白

6 hatchet   

n.短柄小斧；v.扼杀

参考例句：

• I shall have to take a hatchet to that stump.我得用一把短柄斧来劈这树桩。
• Do not remove a fly from your friend's forehead with a hatchet.别用斧头拍打朋友额头上的苍蝇。

7 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

8 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

9 apprehended   

逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解

参考例句：

• She apprehended the complicated law very quickly. 她很快理解了复杂的法律。
• The police apprehended the criminal. 警察逮捕了罪犯。

10 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

11 commute   

vi.乘车上下班；vt.减(刑)；折合；n.上下班交通

参考例句：

• I spend much less time on my commute to work now.我现在工作的往返时间要节省好多。
• Most office workers commute from the suburbs.很多公司的职员都是从郊外来上班的。

12 democrat   

n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员

参考例句：

• The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
• About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后，他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。