'This Guy Must Be On Drugs': Subway Rider Thought After Seeing Mass Shooter Mumbling To Himself

A subway rider, who was one of the people targeted by a mass shooter Tuesday in New York City, said he saw the attacker mumbling to himself.

Just before the shooting incident unfolded, Fitim Gjeloshi – a straphanger – came face to face with the suspect. Gjeloshi spoke to The New York Post, recalling how he was on the Manhattan-bound N train in Brooklyn when he noticed the suspect sitting in the corner.

“I looked at him, and I thought to myself he was talking to himself for like awhile, so I looked at him, and I was like, this guy must be on drugs,” Gjeloshi said outside the 72nd Precinct in Sunset Park after talking to the police.

He said when the train briefly stopped underground after leaving the 59th Street station, he saw the suspect taking out his gas mask.

“When [the train] was about to hit 36th Street, we stopped for 5 minutes. He takes out a gas mask from one of his little luggage[s],” the witness said. “He opened one of his gas tanks, and he said, ‘Oops, my bad.’ He pulls out an ax, he drops it, he takes a gun out, he starts shooting.”

The rider said the suspect shot at him first, but he somehow managed to dodge the bullet. Thankfully, Gjeloshi was not injured in the incident, which was currently under investigation.

“One guy gets shot right next to me. He says, ‘Help! Help’ ” Gjeloshi said. “I tell some person to help him out, cover the blood for him. I jump over, I bang the door and I kicked it with my leg.”

As the train entered the 36th Street station, wounded New Yorkers were found lying on the floor bleeding after being shot, while others scrambled to take cover and escape the scene.

Late Tuesday, the New York Police Department named the suspect as Frank James, a man of heavy build, wearing a neon orange vest and a gray sweater. The suspect was still at large.

A key to a van was found in a collection of belongings that was believed to be of the gunman on the train. The police said James, 62, had rented a U-Haul van in Philadelphia, according to the New York Times. Other items, such as a Glock 9-millimeter handgun, three ammunition magazines, a hatchet, fireworks and a liquid believed to be gasoline, were also found at the scene.

More than 20 people were wounded in the incident, with no one suffering from life-threatening injuries.

“I got lucky with it. … It was crazy, man,” Gjeloshi said, adding he was “scared.”