An early morning FBI raid on a Philadelphia townhouse that was rented out by accused Brooklyn subway shooter Frank James left locals rattled and shaken — and the feds empty-handed.

“All the alarms in the building went off. Then I heard the booms and the tear gas started,” Ayana McKay, a long-term tenant who lives in the Upper North Philly duplex where James holed up until this week, told The Post on Wednesday.

“[FBI agents] yelled upstairs for me to come outside, and when I opened the door there was SWAT pointing their guns at me.

“They asked me if I was a hostage. They kept asking me if I had anyone in the apartment.”

James, 62, was arrested near an East Village McDonald’s on Wednesday afternoon after dropping a dime on himself, according to police – but was still the subject of a multi-state manhunt around 4:30 a.m. when the Philly raid went off.

James checked into the room at the townhouse on March 28 after booking it through Evolve, a short-term rental platform, the property’s owner told the New York Times.

Cops initially told The Post that the accused gunman had rented the room through Airbnb but the company later clarified that the property was not listed on its platform.

“I didn’t come outside,” said next-door neighbor Bruce Allen, 45. “Once I saw the guns drawn, I wasn’t taking chances. They could be looking for me, I don’t know.”

Another neighbor, 46-year-old Joseph Gillooly, said surrounding streets were blocked off, and that the cops “shot tear gas into the building three times.

“You never know who’s living around you,” Gillooly said. “He didn’t have to go to New York. He could have gone to Broad and Allegheny. He could have opened fire on the block.”

The FBI said the cops recovered two empty magazines and ammo, but no James.

The locals said they knew little about the fugitive — but at least once recognized him.

“When the cops showed me the picture, though, I knew it was him,” said McKay. “The big ass head he had in the picture was the big ass head I’d seen.”