New York subway shooter Frank James pleads guilty to terrorism charges

Attack that injured 23 people was one of the most violent in city's transit system history

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  Police circulated images of Frank R James, 62, after the mass shooting in Brooklyn, New York. EPA

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  Emergency crews at the entrance to the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn, after the rush-hour shooting on Tuesday. AP

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  Police and fire officials at the scene in New York. EPA

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  Several people were shot, with wounded commuters left bleeding on the platform. EPA

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  At least 13 people were injured. AP

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  Officers with dogs trained to sniff out explosives were among the police at the scene. AP

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  Sniffer dogs at the station. AP

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  Police and fire crews at the scene. EPA

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  The fire department said 13 people were injured, while police said at least five had been shot. AFP

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  Heavily armed police at the cordoned-off station. Getty

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  Onlookers stand behind the cordon. Getty

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  Rush-hour commuters were caught up in the incident. AFP

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  Bomb disposal experts arrive at the station. EPA

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  Emergency services vehicles outside the scene of the shooting. AP

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  Police and rescue workers crowd the street outside the station after the shooting. AFP

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  New York commuters wait for a subway train after the shooting. Reuters

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  A police officer and dog check a subway station in Manhattan after the Brooklyn incident. Reuters

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  Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers carry out checks in Manhattan. Reuters

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  Stations throughout the network were on alert. Reuters

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  Police and security officers on patrol at Manhattan's 42nd Street station. Reuters

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  Heavily armed police at the scene of the shooting in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighbourhood. AFP

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  Emergency workers at the scene of the shooting. EPA

The man who set off smoke bombs on a crowded New York subway train before shooting 10 people last April in one of the most violent attacks on the city's transit system pleaded guilty on Tuesday to terrorism and weapons charges.

Frank James appeared in US District Court in Brooklyn to change his plea after his lawyers requested the hearing last month. He had initially pleaded not guilty in May to 10 counts of committing a terrorist attack and other violence against a mass transport system — one count for each person shot — and using a firearm during a crime of violence.

A total of 23 people were injured in the assault during the morning rush hour on April 12 on a Manhattan-bound N train at a station in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighbourhood. No one was killed.

It was some of the worst violence involving the US' largest subway system, which is more than a century old.

In a letter to the court last week, US prosecutors said that if James demonstrates that he accepts responsibility for the crime, a prison sentence of 32 to 37 years would be appropriate. If not, he could face 40 years to life.

Police apprehended James in Manhattan's East Village neighbourhood 30 hours after the attack, following a massive manhunt. Bystanders spotted the man and posted pictures of him to social media.

The New York Police Department said they had initially linked James to the assault after finding keys to a rented U-Haul van left at the crime scene.

James, a native of the city's Bronx borough with recent addresses in Philadelphia and Milwaukee, had nine prior arrests in New York and three in New Jersey, police said.

He is being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn.

Less than two months after James's attack, a man was arrested in the fatal, unprovoked shooting of a man on a subway car crossing the Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn into Manhattan.

In June, another man was arrested on suspicion of pushing a woman on to the tracks of a subway station in the Bronx.