A suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting on April 12 reportedly had antisemitic and racist rants in various YouTube videos prior to the shooting.
The shooting resulted in 29 people wounded––10 of whom were shot––but the injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Police have named Frank James, 62, as a suspect in the shooting, and he was arrested on April 13. James has addresses in both Wisconsin and Philadelphia.
Various reporters have found YouTube videos appearing to show James depicted him promulgating “violent, bigoted tirades,” according to The Times of Israel (TOI). Both Rolling Stone and The Algemeiner noted that in a 2017 video titled “they hate jew,” James said that he has “utter contempt that all the f—ing Jews I’ve dealt with show me at the end of the day.” He alleged that Jews “will smile in your f—ing face while stabbing you in the back in a heartbeat” and then ranted that the Holocaust hasn’t “humbled” Jews, saying that Jews “are still arrogant and still feel they’re superior or something above Black people.” “Those motherf—ers don’t contribute s— to life on this Earth but s—, piss, pollution, death and destruction,” James added.
From Brooklyn subway shooter Frank R. James’ social media. James appears to have been galvanized by racial hatreds, but the moral basis of extremism never forgets the Jews. https://t.co/jf1b4uwNOA pic.twitter.com/SUhR9zlhM3
— John-Paul Pagano (@johnpaulpagano) April 13, 2022
TOI found a separate video in which James compared Black Americans’ /reliance on “other men” for the production of necessary goods and service to the Jews in the Warshaw Ghetto. “Men who would see us dead if the situation called for it wouldn’t hesitate to kill us,” he said. “We depend on these people, and that makes no sense.” James added that “all they got to do is surround the area you live in with tanks, don’t let nobody in or nobody out… They did it with the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. They surrounded them with troops and s—, and they held them in there and they starved them to death.” And in another video uncovered by TOI, James says that people “should be exterminated” over environmental devastation, calling it an “American Auschwitz.”
Other videos reportedly show James criticizing New York City Mayor Eric Adams policies on mental health and homelessness, with James claiming that he is “a victim of [Adams’] mental health program” and is “full of hate, full of anger, and full of bitterness.” He also claimed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would eventually result in a race war in the United States and that he “should have gotten a gun, and just started shooting mother—ers,” The New York Post reported.
Adams called James’ video rants “unacceptable,” telling Pix11: “We are not going to accept people disputing any problems with the government to use violence of this nature.”
The Anti-Defamation League tweeted that their analysis of James’ videos show that he “is a disturbed individual who has expressed bigotry and hate towards a range of people across ethnicities, religions, and sexual identities.” “Although his hatred is not primarily directed at Jews, James has at times ranted about alleged Jewish power, and claimed that Jews contribute to the ills of society. Our team will continue to dig into his background.”
According to an analysis of Frank James' social media footprint by ADL's Center on Extremism, it is clear that James is a disturbed individual who has expressed bigotry and hate towards a range of people across ethnicities, religions, and sexual identities.https://t.co/u1T7EmCWRy
— ADL (@ADL) April 13, 2022
Although his hatred is not primarily directed at Jews, James has at times ranted about alleged Jewish power, and claimed that Jews contribute to the ills of society. Our team will continue to dig into his background and urge the public to contact @NYPDTips with any info.
— ADL (@ADL) April 13, 2022
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted, “Horrified to learn that the alleged culprit behind the Brooklyn subway attack expressed virulent, ugly antisemitism among other rants online, and somehow was not detected by the platforms. Astonishing that this remained online. Our hearts go out to those affected by this tragedy.”
Horrified to learn that the alleged culprit behind the Brooklyn subway attack expressed virulent, ugly antisemitism among other rants online, and somehow was not detected by the platforms. Astonishing that this remained online. Our hearts go out to those affected by this tragedy. https://t.co/NGF4VvvTTH
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) April 13, 2022
