An early morning FBI raid on a Philadelphia townhouse that was rented by defendant Brooklyn subway shooter frank james the locals left shaken and shaken — and the Feds empty-handed.
“All building alarms went off. Then I heard the booms and the tear gas started,” Ayana McKay, a longtime tenant who lives in the Upper North Philly duplex where James locked himself in until this week, told The Post on Wednesday. .
“[FBI agents] shouted upstairs for me to come out, and when I opened the door, SWAT pointed their guns at me.
“They asked me if I was a hostage. They kept asking me if I had anyone in the apartment.
James, 62, was arrested near an East Village McDonald’s Wednesday afternoon after dropping a dime on himself, police say – but was still the subject of a multi-state manhunt around 4.30am when the Philadelphia raid broke out.
James moved into the townhouse bedroom on March 28 after booking it through Evolve, a short-term rental platform, which owns the property. told the New York Times.
Cops initially told the Post that the accused shooter rented the room through Airbnb, but the company later clarified that the property was not listed on its platform.
“I didn’t go out,” said neighbor Bruce Allen, 45. “Once I saw the guns drawn, I wasn’t taking any chances. They might be looking for me, I don’t know.
Another neighbour, Joseph Gillooly, 46, said surrounding streets were blocked and cops “fired tear gas into the building three times.
“You never know who lives around you,” Gillooly said. “He didn’t need to go to New York. He could have gone to Broad and Allegheny. He could have opened fire on the block.
The FBI said cops recovered two empty magazines and ammunition, but not James.
Residents said they knew little about the fugitive – but at least once recognized him.
“When the cops showed me the photo, I knew it was him,” McKay said. “The big ass head he had in the picture was the big ass head I saw.”
Comments are closed.