Police are reportedly investigating the possibility that accused subway terrorist Frank James conducted a test of his attack by throwing smoke grenades at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn.
After James’ arrest on Wednesday, the NYPD was informed that a pickup truck – possibly a U-Haul – had been spotted in the airfield area the previous day and someone may have detonated grenades smoke bombs, WNBC reportedciting police sources.
But investigators told the outlet it was too early to determine whether the white vehicle and explosives were linked to the suspect in the subway attack.
James is suspected of opening fire on a subway car in Brooklyn during the Tuesday morning rush, shooting and wounding 10 people and injuring 19 others.
James was arrested by the NYPD in Manhattan’s East Village on Wednesday after he called the NYPD Crime Stoppers hotline and told police to pick him up from a local McDonald’s restaurant.
Federal prosecutors have charged him with carrying out terrorist attacks and other violence against public transit systems, which could land him in prison for life if convicted.
In the aftermath of the attack, cops had difficulty locating James because surveillance cameras at the 36th Street station where the incident took place had malfunctioned.
They later determined that James mixed in with the commuters and took an R train to the next stop on 25th Street, where the cameras were also not working.
The suspected shooter, who previously stayed at an Airbnb in Philadelphia and also has ties to Wisconsin, drove a U-Haul truck into the Big Apple early Tuesday morning around 4 a.m.
Surveillance footage captured him crossing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and heading to Brooklyn, where a U-Haul van he rented on April 6 was later found abandoned in Gravesend, court records show.
James is due in court on Thursday.
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