Police have connected the New York City and New Jersey shore town bombings and say the same man is being sought for questioning in both.
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Around the time Rahami was taken into custody, President Barack Obama was in NY on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, and said it was “extremely fortunate” nobody was killed in the bombings.
Rahami was shot in the standoff with the police, and a witness told The New York Times a police officer might have been shot as well. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the bombs have similarities, suggesting “there might have been a common linkage”.
New Yorkers will see an increased police presence around the city this week, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. Earlier in the day on Saturday, a garbage can exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, near the start of a Marine Corps charity run. No one was injured in the blast.
– Officials want to question Ahmad Khan Rahami because they believe he is the man seen in surveillance videos rolling a duffel bag near the scene of the bombing in Chelsea, according to multiple officials. He was taken into custody on Monday morning by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents. Rahami’s last known address was in Elizabeth in the state of New Jersey.
What we know: Twenty-nine people were injured when an explosion went off in the Chelsea neighborhoood of NY at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.
But after the Chelsea bombing, Gov. Cuomo said 1,000 additional New York State Police officers and National Guard troops will be deployed to patrol bus terminals, airports and subway stations.
There’s also no indication that the latest incident in Elizabeth is connected to the blasts in NY and New Jersey over the weekend. The Rahami family lives in the apartment.
He said Rahami’s father and two brothers sued the city after it passed an ordinance requiring the restaurant to close early because of complaints from neighbors about it being a late-night nuisance.
Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing Rahami working there more.
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. He’s a very friendly guy, that’s what’s so scary. He said the investigation is ongoing, and he “wouldn’t be surprised if it zeroes in on a particular individual, today even”, and he “wouldn’t be surprised if we found a foreign connection to the act”.
“I’m the only candidate in this race that has been part of the hard decisions to take terrorists off the battlefield”, she said.
On Sunday night, FBI agents in Brooklyn stopped “a vehicle of interest” in the investigation of the Manhattan explosion, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser.
Five people who were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami, but they were questioned and released, Sweeney said, declining to say whether they might face any charges in future.
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Five bombs were found in the backpack; one of them exploded while Union County’s bomb squad tried to defuse it with a robot. No one was hurt.
