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Accused Brooklyn subway shooter Frank James was a troubled loner with a checkered past and had been estranged from his family in the years before this week’s horrific attack.
James, who was arrested Wednesday in the Sunset Park subway shooting, was described as quiet and unassuming by those that knew him –but the conspiracy theorist also had a rap sheet dating back to 1984 for largely petty busts.
James, 62, was arrested at least 12 times by the NYPD between 1984 and 1998 on charges ranging from burglary, possession of burglar tools, and criminal sexual acts, cops said. The outcomes of those cases, however, were not immediately available.
The suspected shooter also “has a record of terroristic threats in New Jersey,” one NYPD official told The Post. He has no record of a conviction in the Garden State.
His sister, Catherine James Robinson, told The Post her brother “kept to himself” and said she last spoke to him about three years ago.
“He was a loner, yes he was,” she said.
After his time in New York in the 1990s, James lived in both Philadelphia and Milwaukee where locals described him as quiet and polite.
“He was cordial,” said Eugene Yarbrough, pastor at Mount Zion Wings of Glory Church in Milwaukee. “He wasn’t bothering anybody. I didn’t know of him messing with anybody.”
His genial attitude changed on Tuesday when he parked a U-Haul van two blocks from the Sunset Park N train station on 36th Street shortly before 8:30 a.m. and unleashed the attack that wounded 29 straphangers, including 10 who suffered gunshot wounds.
According to a federal complaint released Wednesday, James had rented a room in Philadelphia for 15 days starting on March 28 and was still booked there when he reserved a U-Haul van on April 6 at a nearby outlet.
He picked up the white Chevy Cargo Van on Monday and headed for New York.
Early Wednesday morning — while James remained on the run — the FBI and local police raided the Philadelphia apartment looking for the fugitive. Inside, authorities found an empty magazine for a Glock, a taser, a high-capacity rifle magazine, and a blue smoke canister.
Get the latest updates in the Brooklyn subway shooting with The Post’s live coverage.
“He wasn’t here long,” said neighbor Bruce Allen. “I don’t remember his face. He would just go in and leave. He wasn’t one of those guys who stays outside. He might stay for an hour or two and leave, and then come back late at night.”
In recent years James had become increasingly unhinged, posting bizarre YouTube rants where he claimed to have suffered from mental illness and blamed Mayor Eric Adams, among others, for his plight.
In one since-deleted post titled “My Family the Enemy,” James said he blamed his father “40 percent” for leaving him unprepared to face the world.
“I’ll take 60 percent of the blame…”cause it’s my life,” he ranted. “It’s my life and I didn’t realize what I was up against…. to live and not be f–ed up by other motherf—ers, which is to take the position that if you f–k with me I’ll f–k you up or I’ll kill you.”
Anyone with information on the shooting should call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS or log onto the CrimeStoppers website.
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