ABC News April 15, 2022

Timeline of New York subway shooting and capture of suspect

WATCH: New York City subway shooter timeline

Dozens of people were injured, including 10 by gunfire, in a mass shooting on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, New York, on Tuesday morning, triggering a manhunt for the gunman.

More than 24 hours later, authorities announced they had apprehended a suspect in the shooting -- 62-year-old Frank James of Philadelphia -- and that federal prosecutors had charged him with a terror-related offense.

In the hours since the incident, hundreds of New York Police Department detectives have been on the case, scouring surveillance footage, interviewing witnesses and tracking leads from evidence left behind at the scene to plot out how the attack unfolded.

MORE: NYC subway shooting updates: Suspect in custody, charged with terror-related offenses

APRIL 6

Around 2 p.m., James rented a U-Haul in Philadelphia that was later recovered near a subway station in Brooklyn, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice. The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent the U-Haul, were among the gunman's possessions recovered from the scene of the shooting.

APRIL 11

James picked up the U-Haul from U-Haul Moving & Storage of Allegheny West at 2:03 p.m., sources said.

Around 6:17 p.m., James visited a storage facility in Philadelphia, according to the complaint. A receipt for the unit was found in a jacket that James discarded on the subway platform, authorities said.

While executing a search warrant on the unit on April 12, law enforcement agents said they had recovered gun parts and ammo, including "9mm ammunition, a threaded 9mm pistol barrel that allows for a silencer or suppresser to be attached, targets and .223 caliber ammunition, which is used with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle," the complaint stated.

Agents found more gun parts during a search of James' apartment, on April 12, according to the complaint, including "an empty magazine for a Glock handgun, a taser, a high-capacity rifle magazine and a blue smoke canister."

APRIL 12

The U-Haul was captured by surveillance footage driving over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn just after 4 a.m., after crossing state lines from Pennsylvania to New Jersey and then to New York, according to the complaint.

U.S. District Court Eastern District of New York
In this still from surveillance video footage which was included in the criminal complaint against Brooklyn subway shooting suspect Frank James, the U-Haul vehicle is shown driving over the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn, in the early morning hours of April 12, 2022.

Security cameras captured an individual wearing a yellow hard hat and "orange working jacket" toting a backpack and rolling bag leaving the U-Haul at approximately 6:12 a.m. at West 7th Street and Kings Highway in Brooklyn, according to the complaint. Police ultimately found the U-Haul nearby on Kings Highway, about three blocks from an N subway stop where James entered the subway system, authorities said. He entered the Kings Highway station at around 8 a.m., sources said.

Main Group
This screen grab from CCTV footage obtained from a law enforcement source reportedly shows Brooklyn subway shooting suspect Frank James walking near the Kings Highway subway station on the morning of April 12, 2022, prior to the shooting.

The shooting unfolded shortly before 8:30 a.m., just as a Manhattan-bound N train approached the 36th Street station in Sunset Park. A man mumbling to himself on the train donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing 33 bullets, police said. Ten people, including three teenagers, were shot, authorities said. The hard hat and orange jacket were found at the scene, police said.

Will B. Wylde/AP
In this photo from social media video, passengers run from a subway car in a station in the Brooklyn borough of New York, April 12, 2022.
Will B Wylde via AP
This photo provided by Will B Wylde, a person is aided outside a subway car in the Brooklyn borough of New York, April 12, 2022.

James eluded law enforcement by boarding an R train that pulled into the station and traveled one stop before exiting at the 25th Street station, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig. A surveillance camera recorded a man matching James' driver's license photograph exiting the 25th Street station at approximately 8:40 a.m., according to the complaint.

James was seen again that day at a Park Slope subway stop at 9:15 a.m., Essig said. He bought a new mask and entered the Seventh Avenue subway station, sources said.

James made it into Manhattan and, sometime that night, checked into the Chelsea International Hostel on West 20th Street, sources said. The hostel denies James stayed there Tuesday but added that he has stayed there in the past.

Police named James as a person of interest in the investigation later that day.

MORE: NYC subway shooting: Police name person of interest in investigation

APRIL 13

Social media posts circulated appearing to show James, now a suspect in the shooting, walking around Manhattan.

Multiple sightings began at around 10:30 a.m., when he was spotted sitting outside Dimes, a restaurant in Chinatown, sources said. Witnesses took pictures of him sitting, apparently using a Link NYC hub to charge his phone, and posted to social media, tagging police, sources said.

Jack Griffin
In this image posted to Twitter, someone matching the description of Frank James is shown walking down the street in New York, on April 13, 2022.
Jack Griffin
In this image posted to Twitter, someone matching the description of Frank James is shown walking down the street in New York, on April 13, 2022.

Another possible stop a few hours later was Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side, sources said. A manager at Katz's told ABC News that James did not eat inside the restaurant the day of his arrest but said he might have been spotted nearby.

The NYPD received a tip saying the suspect was in Manhattan's East Village, in a McDonald's at Sixth Street and First Avenue, police said. After reviewing the 911 call, investigators believe James may have called the police on himself, an NYPD official told ABC News. James reportedly said: "I think you’re looking for me. I’m seeing my picture all over the news and I’ll be around this McDonald's."

MORE: How the New York City subway shooting suspect was captured

Responding officers didn't see James in the McDonald's. A good Samaritan spotted him nearby on St. Mark’s Place and First Avenue and flagged down police, sources said. James was taken into custody without incident at 1:42 p.m.

Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Frank James, the suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting walks outside a police precinct in New York, on April 13, 2022.

James was transferred into federal custody after his arrest and charged by federal prosecutors with a terror-related offense for an attack on mass transit, officials said.

ABC News, Google Earth
Map shows the site of the Brooklyn subway shooting and the site of the suspect's arrest.

APRIL 14

James made his first court appearance and didn't enter a plea. He was ordered held without bail. His defense attorney, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, called the shooting a tragedy but said that initial information can often be wrong. She also lauded James for turning himself in.

ABC News' Aaron Katersky, Mark Crudele, Luke Barr and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.