reporter: lester, he s now in federal custody because of the charge he s facing we expect him to make his first appearance in court sometime tomorrow if convicted, he could face prison for the rest of his life lester. all right ron allen, thank you and investigators have been looking into what frank james was doing before yesterday s attack i want to bring in justice correspondent pete williams now. pete, what are we learning reporter: police and federal agents, lester, say he s had no steady job or fixed address the past few years. they say he rented that u-haul van monday afternoon in philadelphia using his own name he apparently slept in it a bit, then drove it into brooklyn tuesday morning, caught on surveillance video crossing a bridge just after 4:00 a.m. and then about two hours later, investigators say a camera recorded him getting out of the van and walking toward the subway police say cameras in the subway show him entering the system a short time later wearing that dis
over 30 rounds on a subway car after setting off two smoke canisters. in the confusion, making his escape on another train across the platform tonight, the suspect, his criminal history, and the search for a motive ron allen starts us off now with late details. reporter: tonight, a collective sigh of relief in new york city frank, why did you shoot all those people reporter: 62-year-old frank r. james is in custody, charged with a federal crime after the bloody attack in a brooklyn subway station during rush hour. governor kathy hochul announcing the news. the suspect has been arrested. [ applause ] reporter: the arrest comes after a 28-hour manhunt. police releasing several images of the suspect and appealing to the public for help in a bizarre twist, law enforcement officials say it was james himself who called the crime stoppers tip line, saying he heard police were looking for him, and he was at a mcdonald s in manhattan s east village. he said his phone was dying, so the
buy a gun? reporter: because none of those charges resulted in felony convictions. so he was still legally able to buy a gun, and that purchase 11 years ago was a legal one. investigators say this is a close-up of that weapon, showing that he tried to obliterate the serial number, but atf used that number to trace the purchase of the gun to frank james, and that is a key piece of evidence in the federal charges filed today, lester. pete williams, thank you. tonight in ukraine, they re bracing for a new russian offensive in the east, all as president biden today authorized $800 million in more military aid for ukraine. gabe gutierrez is there. reporter: outside kyiv, ukrainians are scrambling to clear land mines, trip wires, and booby traps, new dangers after the russian retreat. today we drove to the village of andrivka, where ukrainian troops are removing ammunition russian soldiers left behind this was once the front line, now a dirt road littered with weapons of war
the most wanted man in new york was caught yesterday in manhattan. frank james is charged as the shooter in the attack on a subway in brooklyn on tuesday. nbc news correspondent ron allen has more. reporter: a collective sigh of relief in new york city. frank, why did you shoot all of those people? reporter: 62-year-old frank r. james is in custody, charged with a federal crime after the bloody attack on a brooklyn subway station during rush however, governor kathy hochul announcing the news. the suspect has been arrested. reporter: the arrest comes after a 28-hour manhunt. police releasing several images of the suspect and appealing to the public for help. in a bizarre twist, law enforcement officials say it was james himself who calmed the crime stoppers tip line, saying he heard police were looking for him and he was at a mcdonald s in manhattan s east village. he said his phone was dying so they should come quickly. officers rushed there but he was already gone. they foun
since 9/11. reporter: police say the suspect was on this manhattan-bound train as it pulled into the 36th street stop they say he put on a gas mask, then opened two canisters filled with smoke he then opened fire, striking multiple people on the subway and in the platform [ sound of gunfire ] reporter: you can hear that gunfire in this video from the next car over, where kenneth foote-smith was headed to work we hear a loud bang, followed by lots of screaming we see white smoke starting to billow and fill up the train car, people running at the doors that separate the train cars and, you know, banging on them, screaming for help almost like a horror movie. reporter: conrad adderer was in the train station. guy came up to the station booth, and he was his legs are bloody i basically made a decision to get out of there. reporter: tonight the nypd says they have identified a person of interest, frank r. james, with