Brooklyn subway mass shooting victims sue Glock over rampage, arguing gunmaker is at fault
Frank James' terrifying April 2022 mass shooting on a crowded Brooklyn subway was a 'direct' result of gunmaker Glock's marketing, two victims claim in a lawsuit.
Furong Hu and Zhuoxuan Ye were among the 10 people shot on a Manhattan-bound N train when when James, 62, opened fire with his legally purchased Glock 17 9mm handgun, they said in a Brooklyn Federal Court lawsuit against the gunmaker.
James, who unleashed 33 shots as the train traveled through Sunset Park between the 59th and 36th Street stations, was sentenced in October 2023 to life in prison for the horrifying incident, which left another 19 people hurt.
The Brooklyn man had recorded videos of himself ranting on YouTube about a race war, railed against the city's mental health system and the homeless on the subway.
Austria-based Glock has endangered the public with its marketing strategy, including failing to 'stop the glorification of Glock' as the weapon of choice in rap lyrics, and in movies and TV, the lawsuit argues.
Glock also emphasizes the weapon's high capacity and 'ease of concealment,' factors which 'appeal to prospective purchasers with criminal intent,' Hu and Ye said in court papers.
The company also intentionally makes more firearms 'than the legitimate market could bear' in order to create an illegal secondary market; and has refused to terminate contracts with distributors who sold to dealers 'with disproportionately high volumes of guns traced to crime scenes,' the pair alleged.
'As a consequence selling Glock firearms to the civilian market, individuals unfit to operate these weapons gain access to them,' the victims said in the lawsuit. Dealers are also not trained to avoid straw sales, a transaction in which someone buys a gun for another person, according to the lawsuit.
It's the second time victims of James' mass shooting targeted Glock in court.
Brooklyn resident Ilene Steur, 49, sued the gunmaker in 2022 for its marketing, claiming the company knows it's product is 'unsuited to personal defense or recreation, [and] enables an individual in possession of the weapon to inflict unparalleled civilian carnage.'
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