So when the 28-year-old Afghan immigrant was apprehended Monday as the lead person of interest in bombings in NY and New Jersey, those who knew him expressed shock, questioning whether his turn to religiosity in recent years might have hinted at views otherwise kept hidden.
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Police earlier had released a photo of a 28-year-old immigrant wanted for questioning, and the governor and New York City mayor said the blast Saturday in the Chelsea neighborhood is looking increasingly like an act of terrorism with a foreign connection.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in the New York-New Jersey bomb plot, has been charged with five counts of attempted murder.
Among them: his fingerprints and DNA evidence at the scene of the Manhattan bombing, his uncovered face clearly captured by surveillance cameras and other evidence.
No charges have been filed yet in connection with the Saturday bombings in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood that left 29 injured and the explosion at a Marine 5K race in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
William Sweeney Jr., the FBI’s assistant director in NY, said there were no indications Ahmad Khan Rahami was on law enforcement’s radar at the time of the bombings.
Following Rahami’s arrest, officials said they had no indication there were more bombs or suspects to find, though they are still investigating.
Authorities also want to speak to his wife, who left the United States a few days before the bombings, a law enforcement official said on condition of anonymity.
On Sunday, a federal law enforcement official said the Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores.
Rahami has been described as “a very friendly guy” by neighbours and customers of his family’s fried-chicken shop.
Ahmad Khan Rahami is said to make references to late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and US-born jihadist cleric Anwar al Awlaki.
Rahami then began shooting “indiscriminately” along Elizabeth Avenue, police said, and another officer was injured in the hand. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away.
The charges stem from an exchange of gunfire at about 10:30 a.m. Monday morning during which Rahami shot a police officer in the torso, striking his bulletproof vest, the prosecutor said.
Surveillance video showed a man believed to be Rahami dragging what appeared to be a duffel bag with wheels near the site of the West 23rd Street explosion about 40 minutes before the blast, according to local and federal law enforcement sources.
Sources believe Rahami is connected to both these attacks on the east coast, but they don’t know whether he acted alone. More officers joined in a battle that spilled into the street. She said the injuries to the officers were not critical.
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It wasn’t clear if the suspect was linked to five pipe bombs – one of which was inadvertently detonated by a robot – found at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, late Sunday, not far from where Rahami was later captured. Cuomo said on Saturday that the state will be deploying an additional 1,000 state troopers and members of the National Guard throughout NY.
