‘Give that man $100,000 reward, not $50,000!’ Crowd cheers New Jersey man, 21, who spotted shooter Frank James at East Village McDonald’s moments BEFORE cops got there
- Zack Tahhan, 21, in the East Village fixing a camera for a store on First Avenue when he spotted Frank James
- He started screaming, jumping up and down and alerting nearby police officers
- James was taken into custody afterwards and has now been charged with terror attack on mass transit
- Tahhan is now being lauded as a hero for beating the NYPD by finding the most wanted man in the city
- People chanted on Wednesday that he should be given a $100k reward from the NYPD – double the amount promised
A 21-year-old Syrian man who caught the Brooklyn subway gunman was hailed a hero this afternoon after beating the NYPD to find the city’s most wanted man.
Zack Tahhan, who lives in New Jersey, told DailyMail.com how he recognized the alleged shooter while he was fixing a camera outside a convenience store in the East Village.
Mr Tahhan, who works for MACA security integrators, revealed he immediately ‘started jumping up and down and screaming’ when he realized it was 62-year-old Frank James.
He said onlookers ‘thought he was crazy’ but claimed he ran after him while the manager of the shop flagged down a police cruiser that had stopped at a red light.
The have-a-go hero was lauded by a huge crowd on Wednesday afternoon who chanted that the $50,000 reward should be double and he should claim it as soon as possible.
But Mr Tahhan said he did not want to collect it because ‘money is not important to me’, adding he ‘just wanted to do the right thing’.
James was grabbed by three cops on First Avenue without putting up a fight after visiting a nearby McDonald’s and strolling down the street.
He was the most wanted man in the city after allegedly shooting ten people on a northbound N train in Brooklyn yesterday morning.
Zack Tahhan, 21, was fixing a camera outside an East Village store when he spotted James in the street. The 62-year-old had just exited a McDonald’s and was walking around casually, a day after shooting ten people on a northbound N train
Hero’s reception: Tahhan was lauded by crowds in the East Village on Wednesday
Frank James is shown being taken into custody in the East Village on Wednesday, 30 hours after unleashing terror on the NYC subway
On Wednesday morning, he got on the train again at 9.15am in Park Slope and traveled into Manhattan, right under the noses of the doubled number of cops on trains.
It wasn’t until a member of the public noticed him in a McDonald’s and called police that he was finally arrested at 1.42pm at St Marks Place and First Avenue. Photos taken earlier that were posted on social media show him strolling around in a hat, mask and dark clothing.
James has a long rap sheet with charges in New York and New Jersey dating back to the 1990s for possessing burglary tools, criminal sex acts, criminal tampering, trespassing, larceny and disorderly conduct.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams said: ‘My fellow New Yorkers. We got him. I want to thank every day New Yorkers who called in tips, responded, helped wounded passengers. Thirty-three shots but less than 30 hours later we’re able to say, we got him.’
Tahhan told how he started yelling out that James was the shooter the moment he spotted him on Wednesday
Now that he is in custody, attention will turn to why it took the police so long to find him in a city that is covered in surveillance cameras, and why it took a member of the public to finally bring him down.
Another witness, Deira Figueroa, said Zach chased after the gunman and grabbed him.
She was riding her bike when it all kicked off and only realized what was happening when she heard shouting. She said it was a team effort, but the man was mentally ill, a very weird, strange man.
She said he tried to run away but Zach ran after him and caught him.
She said the tackle was incredible. ‘In New York City, we protect us, nobodies really safe out here. It was like a tackle. The cops took a while to get here, maybe a few minutes.’
The cameras inside the 36th Street station were not working yesterday when he opened fire on the northbound N train at 8.24am.
It meant he managed to escape as wounded passengers spilled out onto the platform covered in blood.
James, 62, had posted ranting videos on YouTube about violence, race, Eric Adams and crime in New York City.
He left Wisconsin, where he lived alone, on March 20 in a rented van, driving through Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania and then to New Jersey.
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