The Syrian immigrant Zakaria Tahan became a star on American screens in recent hours after he informed the U.S. police about the whereabouts of Frank James, who had terrorized the New York subway just two days earlier during peak hours. While reports indicated that the young man received a $50,000 reward from the U.S. police, a Twitter account purportedly in his name posted tweets denying these claims entirely. However, that account was later closed after gaining thousands of followers within hours, without providing any further details, and it remains unclear whether the account was genuine or not. No new information has been revealed regarding the reward.
The brief tweets that circulated and then disappeared indicated that many reached out to Zakaria to inquire about the prize, with him claiming he hadn’t received anything and had not been contacted by any entity. Another tweet stated that the true reward was the love he felt from the people around him, their praise for his actions, and the tremendous support he received, but that tweet also vanished shortly afterward. Calls to double the reward that was never officially granted have been noted.
Zakaria Tahan has become a hero in America after leading authorities to the shooter in New York, whose saga ended with his arrest at 1 PM on Wednesday. Reports spread that Zakaria had received a reward from the city’s police, which had previously announced it would offer $50,000 for information leading to Frank James, aged 62.
Tahan has been an immigrant in New York for five years, working for a company that installs various types of surveillance cameras, according to local media. After the incident, he held what resembled a press conference on the street, surrounded by dozens of journalists, some of whom called for doubling the reward, questioning what might have happened if Frank James had remained at large.
The incident terrified America for hours as James shot 10 people directly and injured 13 others by igniting a smoke bomb and firing 33 shots from a semi-automatic handgun, which was later found at the scene alongside three ammunition magazines, an axe, some fireworks, and a container of gasoline, suggesting he planned a massacre. However, his gun malfunctioned, prompting him to flee the scene, leaving those nearby, including Tahan, who was on his way to work and witnessed the events, in severe panic.
The next day, Wednesday, while Zakaria was installing one of the surveillance cameras, he spotted James in the East Village area of Manhattan, as he told reporters. He whispered to himself, "Oh my God, that’s the man... he was carrying a bag over his shoulder and walking on the sidewalk, then he set it down in the street. I saw many people approaching from behind him, so I went and told them: Please stay back, this man is going to do something." He then spotted a police car and rushed to inform them, resulting in James's arrest within minutes. Zakaria, dubbed a "hero" on social media, clarified his name for reporters by spelling it out in Arabic: "Zakaria Tahan."
