Ahmad Rahami was not on federal or NYPD terror watch lists before allegedly planting bombs in NY and New Jersey, but officials said Monday they did not believe he was part of a terror cell.
Advertisement
Rahami, 28, a naturalized USA citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his Muslim family in Elizabeth, New Jersey, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg as authorities began drawing up charges in a case that spread fear across the NY area and revived anxiety about homegrown terrorism. One officer was struck in an exchange of gunfire and a second was injured by glass, but neither is in critical condition, Park explained.
Authorities say two Linden officers were wounded trying to arrest Rahami.
People who were in the area at the time gathered after the gunshots rang out and captured footage of Rahami, who looked dazed as medics wheeled him into an ambulance.
Then, late Sunday, five pipe bombs were found in a trash can near an NJ Transit station in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Investigators will now focus on whether he had co-conspirators and on his motive in allegedly bombing New York’s Chelsea neighborhood and detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a US Marine Corps race. Born in Afghanistan, he worked at his family’s fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and is a USA citizen. The man was initially presumed to be a vagrant, but police officers who responded quickly realized it was Rahami, Democratic Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said.
NY governor Andrew Cuomo said police were led to Ahmad by DNA and fingerprints.
Flee Jones, 27, who said he’d known Rahami since they were teenagers, told reporters he’d noticed a change in Rahami’s personality after a trip to Afghanistan several years ago.
Born in Afghanistan, Rahami is a naturalized USA citizen. No one was injured.
At the same time, five people who were pulled over in a vehicle Sunday night were being questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, officials said. Authorities are investigating it as a possible terrorist attack but have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings.
Before Rahami’s capture, Cuomo said investigators have no reason to believe there are further threats, but the public should “be on constant guard”. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
He called on Americans to show the world “we will never give in to fear”.
Rahami’s father, Mohammad, and two of Rahami’s brothers sued the city of Elizabeth in 2011 after it passed an ordinance requiring their restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, to close early because of complaints from neighbors that it was a late-night nuisance. “And there’s no better example of that than the people of NY and New Jersey”, the president said.
The president said that the USA would continue to go after so-called Islamic State (IS). In 2011, they filed a lawsuit accusing the city of discrimination. The lawsuit was terminated in 2012 because one of Rahami’s brothers had pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant.
Ryan McCann, of Elizabeth, said that he often ate at the restaurant and recently began seeing the younger Rahami working there more.
“He’s a very friendly guy, very Americanised”.
Advertisement
“You could have had a common mastermind in the construction of the bombs”, Cuomo said. “It’s terrifying because he’s been hiding in plain sight”, McCann said.
