NEW YORK (AP) – When smoke bombs and bullets exploded on a subway full of morning passengers as they were dragged to a stop in Brooklyn, train driver David Artis could not hear the gunshots.
His first sign that something was wrong was when passengers crowded near the door of his pilot’s apartment to report the chaos, a car behind.
Artis said after a moment of shock, his thoughts quickly shifted from “My God!”  to care about its passengers.  It relied on emergency training.
“Then it started. Get them out,” he said on Friday, after the mayor was honored by himself and his colleagues to transport workers for their response to Tuesday’s shooting.
In a matter of minutes, Artis and train driver Raven Haynes called to attack, opened the train doors and evacuated all the passengers on another train on the same platform, and then began assisting the injured.
Photographs and videos taken by passengers immortalized the couple calmly but in an authoritarian way feeding the surprised passengers on the other train, which was speeding away.
“This week, New York City showed the world what our city has always been like: courage, heroism, quick thinking and decisive action,” said Mayor Eric Adams.
Adams, who appeared at the City Hall ceremony almost because he was isolated after testing positive for COVID-19, asked workers to present notices on Friday to honor them for their heroism.
The ceremony took place a day after the man authorities say was responsible for the massacre, Frank James, made his first appearance in court in a federal court a few stops above the line from where the attack took place.
Prosecutors say he dressed as a construction worker and fired smoke, then pulled out a pistol and fired 33 shots, refilling once before blocking his gun.
Metro workers said that in the chaos, they did not see the gunman in the crowd and simply focused on getting people out.
“I shouted to the people: ‘Get on the train!  Get on the train!  Get on the train! ”  said Artis.
Haynes, the conductor, said she felt no fear as she worked at an airport before joining the Metropolitan Transport Authority several years ago and was already accustomed to reacting to unforeseen situations.
“I can not stress enough the importance of having a stoic attitude in a moment of chaos.  “Having a calm demeanor helps your passengers stay calm, which helps them get out as safely and quickly as possible.”
The victims of the shootings ranged in age from 16 to 60 years.  Most of the injuries were to his legs, back and buttocks.  A 16-year-old boy was shot in the hand.  Everyone is expected to survive.
As the injured passengers limped to the platform, several knelt down to help the injured.  One took off a shirt to create a tourniquet for someone who was shot in the leg.
Artis said that when he checked the subway car to make sure it was empty, he found blood on the floor, luggage left behind by the gunman and calipers, which he said he immediately reported to the transporters so that the police could be called.
Haynes described the moment she took part in the scene, immediately after ordering the passengers to escape.
“Eventually I looked down at the front of the train and saw the whole second car wrapped in smoke, along with the entire north side of the platform,” he said.
Investigators said that in the confusion, James slipped onto the rescue train with the other passengers, exiting a station down having lost the construction worker’s uniform and helmet.
He was arrested a day later in Manhattan after a manhunt across the city that ended shortly after he called police and gave his whereabouts.
The NYPD said Friday that a $ 50,000 reward for information leading to James’ arrest would be shared evenly with five individuals whose advice “immediately contributed to the arrest.”  Because the tip process is anonymous, the department did not release the names of those who received the reward money, which was donated by the New York City Police Department, a non-profit organization that supports the work of the NYPD, the MTA and the transit workers’ union.
So much is still unknown about the motives behind Tuesday’s shooting as the suspect’s previous brushes are brought under control.
Among his first contacts with law enforcement was when he was fired from his service at Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was a customer more than 15 years ago, the agency’s chief executive said in a statement.
“At the time of his dismissal, we referred James for additional mental health services and contacted the New Jersey Elizabeth Police Department, which conducted their own investigation.  “He has not dealt with our organization since,” said Cory Storch, CEO of Bridgeway.
“This catastrophic event underscores the urgent need to increase access to mental health care and follow-up services for those in crisis to prevent future acts of violence,” Storch said.
In a brief appearance in court on Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Sara K. Winik said James’s premeditated, carefully planned attack “caused terror to the victims and to our entire city.”
James was ordered to be released without bail.  At the request of James’s lawyers, Judge Roanne Mann said she would ask James for “psychiatric care”.
Hourari Benkada, a passenger who was shot in the leg, told the Associated Press in an interview that he was just a few meters away from the gunman.
Benkada said he was listening to music on his headphones when smoke began to fill the car and he thought it was a small fire.
But the smoke “continued to escalate into black, black smoke like 9/11,” he said, “and the whole train was black.”
Bencanda said he heard gunshots and screams and tried to protect a pregnant woman from being hit during the chaos, and as people pushed forward, a shot tore his knee.
Investigators were searching for dozens of videos posted by James on social media as they tried to determine the motive for the shooting.  The videos include swear words full of swear words about racism, the treatment of blacks by society, homelessness and violence.
James, a native of New York, also discussed the history of his psychiatric treatment and complained about how the mayor of New York treats homeless people on the subway and gun violence.  He also spoke of people being shot, prosecutors note in court documents.
Investigators say James, who recently left Milwaukee and lived in a short-term rental in Philadelphia, rented a U-Haul truck in Philadelphia and drove it to New York hours before the shooting.
Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Karen Matthews and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this report.