Police are still investigating the cause of an explosion in NY on Saturday night, with 29 people injured in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.
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NY police commissioner Jimmy O’Neill said the exact cause of the explosion─which left 29 people injured─had not yet been determined and that officers are investigating a second device found a few blocks away.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says there is still no indication an explosion that injured 29 people in Manhattan is linked to global terrorism as investigators scour the scene. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it is an intentional act but not related to terrorism.
A second device was found on West 27th street, wrapped in a plastic bag.
At least 29 people were injured in the blast, one seriously when the blast went off on 23rd Street between 6 and 7 Avenues at around 8:30 Saturday night.
NY officials briefed the public Sunday on the Chelsea blast that injured 29 individuals Saturday night, but Mayor Bill DeBlasio reiterated that NY officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were still working to “get the facts”. The other device, on West 27th Street, was described as resembling a pressure cooker like the one used in the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, the official said.
CNN reported that law enforcement sources believed an improvised explosive device caused the blast. It was removed without incident by the NYPD Bomb Squad.
Mr De Blasio told reporters there was “no evidence at this point of a terror connection” in the explosion.
Witnesses say many people were taken away in ambulances.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the blast, which went off at around 9 pm on Saturday, is being treated as “intentional”. The governor also announced the deployment of an additional 1,000 state police and national guardsmen to New York City. “I want New Yorkers to be confident when they go back to work on Monday that NY is up and running and we’re doing everything that we need to do”, said Cuomo. We better get very, very tough.
The report of the blast came hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, shortly before thousands of runners were to participate in a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors.
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O’Neill said authorities had collected video of the explosion but asked the public for any footage they might have, as well as eyewitness accounts and tips.
