Exclusive: Subway shooter ranted about local violence in online video
(Photos courtesy New York Police Department; Graphic by Solano NewsNet)
A man accused of shooting 10 people on a busy subway in New York City earlier this week posted hundreds of rant-filled videos to YouTube before his alleged action, including one that focused on a gang-related shooting that claimed the life of a Vacaville man and five others in Sacramento.
The half-hour video shows 62-year-old Frank James sitting in front of a monitor displaying the photos of the six shooting victims, including 29-year-old Devazia Turner of Vacaville.
“Twelve wounded and six died,” James says in the video, a copy of which was obtained and verified by Solano NewsNet this week. He then discusses one of the shooting suspects, Dandrae Martin, who was arrested several days after the incident.
“I’m not mad at him one f—king bit,” James said of the suspect. “He’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to do. What he does makes sense…the action of course is senseless, but what leads up to it, what causes him to take that action, makes ‘mucho’ sense, if you think about it.”
The video was one of hundreds of posts made to James’ YouTube channel in the days leading up to this week’s shooting in New York City. Alphabet, the parent company of YouTube, removed his account on Wednesday.
James is accused of opening fire on a busy subway train in the New York City borough of Brooklyn this week. At least 10 people were shot and another 19 sustained injuries in connection with the incident, law enforcement officials said.
James was arraigned on a federal terrorism charge on Thursday. A court-appointed defense attorney retained by James urged the public to wait until further facts were made available, saying “initial press and police reports in cases like this one are often inaccurate.”
But the YouTube videos offer a chilling look into the mind of the man who prosecutors say carried out a “premeditated attack” on the New York City subway system.
“We need to see more mass shootings,” James said in one video. “We need to see more, there has to be more mass shootings to make a n——r understand…it’s not about the shooter, it’s about the environment in which he has to exist.”
In a video posted last week, James blamed single mothers for the gang-related shooting that occurred in Sacramento.
“This is what it culminates into,” James opined. “So he’s not the f—king problem. Ultimately, he’s not. We’re the problem.”