NYC Mayor takes credit for Frank James capture, fails to mention hero Zach Tahhan
Zach Tahhan, who lives in New Jersey recognized the Brooklyn subway 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 ran after him while the manager of the shop flagged down a police cruiser that had stopped at a red light.
The 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’.
Meanwhile, insiders apparently told the New York Post James had also called 911 himself, telling them where he would be before adding: ‘You know, I think you’re looking for me.’
He was later 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 shooting ten people on a northbound N train in Brooklyn yesterday morning.
Despite witnesses corroborating Zach’s story, police and the Mayor took credit for the arrest, with Mayor Eric Adams – who is in quarantine with Covid – saying in a video message and a tweet: ‘We got him!’
He said: ‘My fellow New Yorkers. We got him. I want to thank every day New Yorkers who called in tips, responded, and helped wounded passengers. Thirty-three shots but less than 30 hours later we’re able to say, we got him.’
Commissioner Keechant Sewell also thanked the NYPD detectives and claimed they gave James ‘nowhere to hide’ by ‘shrinking his world’.
James was finally seized just after lunch after an embarrassing and fruitless day-long manhunt by the FBI and NYPD.
He was marched out of the 9th Precinct shortly before 5pm, smirking but saying nothing as reporters asked why he carried out the attack.
