Chaos, panic and a person of interest: What we know about the Brooklyn subway shooting

Panic in Brooklyn: The footage from the subway shooting 0:47 (CNN) — Passengers on a Brooklyn Subway train were victims of a mass shooting Tuesday morning. An unidentified man put on a gas mask, threw a smoke grenade and began shooting at the smoking car, injuring several people on the train and subway platform, police said. Authorities are still searching for the attacker whose motives are unknown. Ten people were shot and 13 others were injured by smoke inhalation, falls or panic attacks, authorities said. Here’s what we know and don’t know about the violent Brooklyn subway attack and the ongoing search for the suspect. Brooklyn subway shooter fired into a crowd 33 times, police say Just before 8:30 a.m. local time Tuesday, the New York Fire Department (FDNY) received a report of smoke at the subway station of 36th Street in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, according to the FDNY. When emergency services arrived, they found multiple gunshot victims throughout the subway station and others injured in the chaos. Biden welcomes response to Brooklyn shooting 0:39Travellers told investigators a gunman opened two smoke grenades, brandished a 9mm pistol and fired multiple shots, according to NYPD Detective Chief James W. Essig. There were at least 33 shots that hit 10 people, seven men and three women, Essig said. Five of the victims were students going to school, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters outside Maimonides Medical Center. She said she met a 12-year-old, a 13-year-old, a 16-year-old and two 18-year-olds at the hospital, which is the only pediatric trauma hospital in the area. Investigators descended on the Brooklyn neighborhood and quickly zeroed in on a credit card and keys to a U-Haul van that had been rented in Philadelphia that were found at the scene. Both items helped investigators find a U-Haul pickup truck in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon, police said. Investigators also found a Glock 9mm pistol, three extended magazines, two detonated smoke grenades, two undetonated smoke grenades and an axe, Essig said. Two officers said they believe the gun jammed during the shooting. Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said there were no known active explosive devices on the train. The attack is not being investigated as an act of terrorism, but authorities have not ruled anything out, he said. Person of interest identified Authorities had not identified a gunman or motive as of Tuesday night. New York City agencies are offering a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). However, the New York police identified a man named Frank James, 62, as a “person of interest”. He is believed to be the tenant of the U-Haul and has addresses in both Wisconsin and Philadelphia, Essig said. New York police are searching for Frank James, the man who rented a U-Haul truck found near the scene of a shooting in Brooklyn. His connection to the event is unclear. (NYPD) “Mr. James is just one person of interest that we know of at this time that he rented that U-Haul van in Philadelphia,” Essig said. “The key to that U-Haul van was found in the subway in the attacker’s possession. We do not know at this time if Mr. James has any connection to the subway. That is still under investigation.” The van was rented Monday from a U-Haul store in Philadelphia, according to company records obtained by CNN. The rental agreement obtained by CNN shows that the U-Haul reservation was made on Wednesday and was scheduled for a Monday pickup at 2:01 p.m. The van was supposed to be rented for two days, according to the reservation. Records show James rented the truck using a Wisconsin license with a Milwaukee address. YouTube videos have been linked to James because he is using a screenshot of one of them on an NYPD Crimestoppers flyer. James spoke about the violence and mass shootings in the videos, including one uploaded Monday in which he said he thought about killing the people who allegedly hurt him. CNN reached out to James and his family for comment but did not receive a response. Witnesses recount the frantic scene of the subway attack Images captured by people on the scene and witness accounts paint a picture of the panic and chaos that ensued when gunshots began to ring out in the smoke-filled train car . A video taken by a passenger showed people walking away from the door and a man banging on the door trying to get into the subway car. In another video, people can be seen running from the train after it stopped at the 36th Street subway station. Smoke billows from the car where the shooting occurred and people can be heard screaming. An individual is seen helping an injured and bleeding person off the train and another man is seen limping off the train shortly after. What can be deduced about a NY shooting suspect? 2:00 Pictures taken by others at the scene show the blood-stained subway platform and people sitting and lying on the train platform after the incident. Hourari Benkada, 27, told CNN that he was sitting next to the suspect in the subway shooting on the “N” train and was shot in the back of the knee as he tried to run away. “I feel shocked, I feel shaky, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to ride the train,” Benkada, a lifelong New Yorker, said after coming out of surgery. Benkada, housekeeping manager at the New Yorker hotel, said he got on the last car of the N train and sat next to a man with a duffel bag who was wearing an MTA vest. The man then released a “smoke bomb” and began firing about 20 seconds after the train took off, Benkada said. Survivor says he was sitting next to shooter on New York subway 4:29 Benkada said he was focused on helping a pregnant woman, who feared she might hurt herself as people ran to the front of the car, when she was shot, describing it as “the worst pain of my entire life”. He explained that the bullet hit him in the back of the knee and exited the other side. Doctors told him the bullet grazed his kneecap. He is expected to walk on his own after several weeks on crutches. Benkada said he heard other people’s pain, but he couldn’t see them or the suspect because of the smoke. Claire Tunkel, 46, told CNN that she took her jacket off and tied it around the leg of a man who suffered a gunshot wound. Tunkel, who went to hospital for smoke inhalation, said several victims were lying on the floor of the subway platform after the train pulled into the station. “One of the guys that was shot, his leg was bleeding badly, so I took my jacket off and tied it around his leg,” she said. Tunkel was in the subway car where the shooting took place and described the scene as chaotic. Although she couldn’t see anything because of the smoke, she said she heard people screaming for help and others saying they were bleeding. “You couldn’t see anything, but you could feel it,” she said. People were running towards the front of the car and some fell to the ground, she noticed. “You could feel the bodies.” — Caroll Alvarado, Laura Ly, Kristina Sgueglia, Paul Murphy, Brynn Gingras, Shimon Prokupecz, Pervaiz Shallwani, Mark Morales, Maureen Chowdhury, CNN’s Eric Levenson contributed to this report.