Brooklyn subway shooter pleads guilty to terrorism charges

The man charged with opening fire on a New York City subway car in April 2022, shooting and wounding 10 people, pleaded guilty Tuesday to terrorism charges.

His appearance in court came nearly nine months after the attack on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, which ignited a wave of panic in New York, sent terrified passengers running for safety and locked down schools in the surrounding areas. Adding to the anxiety, the attacker remained free for over a day before he was taken into custody in Manhattan.

Law enforcement officials praised the plea, which Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, which includes Brooklyn, called “swift justice.”

“This guilty plea is an important step towards holding James fully accountable and helping the victims of the defendant’s violence and our great city heal,” Peace said in a statement.

James initially had pleaded not guilty in the case, but in a sudden reversal last month, his attorneys alerted the judge that he intended to enter a guilty plea instead. Days before, a superseding indictment had been filed against James, charging him with 10 counts of carrying out a terrorist attack on a mass-transportation system that was carrying people, along with a count of using a gun during a violent crime. Each count could carry a potential sentence of up to life in prison.

“Today’s guilty plea demonstrates that the Justice Department will work relentlessly to hold accountable those who engage in mass violence and terrorize our communities,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The Brooklyn attack came as cities across the country were struggling with a rise in deadly gun violence since the beginning of the pandemic — although by the end of last year, homicides had decreased in many major cities. In New York, the specter of violent crime has been a persistent fear and issue, with Mayor Eric Adams (D), a former police officer, intensely focusing on the issue both during his campaign and since taking office one year ago.

The shooting also was an act of mass gun violence in a year that was, for many, tragically defined by such attacks. In the weeks and months after the Brooklyn attack, more than three dozen people were slaughtered in massacres in Buffalo, Uvalde, Tex., and Highland Park, Ill. Remarkably, during the Brooklyn attack, even as the gunman fired bullet after bullet aboard a train with helpless passengers, none of the wounds were fatal.

According to authorities, the gunfire in Brooklyn began aboard a train bound for Manhattan shortly before 8:30 a.m. on April 12. With the train approaching the 36th Street Station, a rider lobbed two smoke grenades onto the floor of the car and then fired at least 33 shots from a Glock pistol, officials said. Then, they say, the attacker fled.

Investigators said they linked James to the attack after finding bags near the attack scene containing a gun he had purchased in Ohio, a bank card issued in his name and a key to a U-Haul he rented in Philadelphia and drove to Brooklyn. Police also said they found undetonated smoke grenades, a hatchet, a bag of fireworks and a liquid that seemed to be gasoline.

Authorities have called the attack “entirely premeditated.” In court papers, prosecutors alleged thatJames donned a disguise, including a hard hat and orange jacket, which he wore onto the train and then shed after the shooting “to flee the subway station undetected.”

James had been scheduled to stand trial in February. Last month, his lawyers filed a two-sentence letter to U.S. District Judge William F. Kuntz II, saying he had informed them “that he wishes to schedule a guilty plea.” They did not elaborate or provide any explanation, and no plea agreement was announced.

After the guilty pleas were submitted Tuesday, his federal public defenders said he took responsibility for the attack. Prosecutors have signaled that they will seek a lengthy sentence for James, while defense attorneys called for leniency, citing James’s health and his relatively advanced age.

“Mr. James has accepted responsibility for his crimes since he turned himself in to law enforcement,” his attorneys, Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Amanda David, said in a statement. “A just sentence in this case will carefully balance the harm he caused with his age, his health, and the Bureau of Prisons’ notoriously inadequate medical care.”

Before the superseding indictment was filed last month, James had been indicted on one count of mass-transportation terrorism and a count of firing a gun during a violent crime.

After the superseding indictment, which added more counts, James’s attorneys asked the court to delay the trial so they could be prepared for the new charges. Federal prosecutors said the superseding indictment was based “on the same conduct and evidence as the original indictment” and did not warrant any delay.

The judge denied the defense’s request to delay the trial. In their next filing, James’s attorneys revealed that he wanted to plead guilty.