Wisconsin Ties
New York Police have identified Frank R. James, who is tied to addresses in Milwaukee, as a person of interest in the New York subway shooting Tuesday.
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Frank R. James does not appear to have any criminal record in Wisconsin, according to a Tuesday night search of state and Milwaukee municipal court records.
In a video dated March 20, 2022, and posted to social media, a man who appeared to be James is seen driving, saying he was on his way to Philadelphia and leaving Wisconsin.
"As I leave the state of Wisconsin, about to be back in the state of Illinois, all I can say is good riddance and I will never be back again alive ..." the man said in the video.
He described it as the "first leg" of his trip.
He ranted about a variety of subjects, including Ukraine, nuclear war, race and traffic in Chicago.
At his last known Milwaukee address in the city's Harambee neighborhood, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter knocked on the door. There was no answer.
A neighbor, who lived in an adjacent apartment at the address, told the New York Times that James was "gruff and standoffish."
Keilah Miller, 32, said James moved into the unit less than a year ago. Miller said she heard James yelling on the phone several times.
She said he would walk down the street just about every morning but never say hello.
A man named Frank James from Milwaukee purchased the brands of fireworks visible in the photos from the scene, said William Weimer, vice president and general counsel at Youngstown-based Phantom Fireworks.
James spent $93 at a Phantom Fireworks showroom in Caledonia, outside of Racine, in June 2021, according to a receipt Weimer provided to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
He bought "canister smoke," which produces white smoke, among other items. Earlier Tuesday, photos of the fireworks products found at the scene had circulated on social media and made their way to Weimer.
"We identified those four items as something that could have come from Phantom," Weimer said of the photo.