Ahmad Rahami spent over three months in jail on charges related to the domestic dispute, according to a high-ranking law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation. The FBI in Newark conducted an assessment and interviewed the father.
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Tuesday morning interview on CNN urged Americans to keep in mind the principles of the nation’s justice system after the capture of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the alleged Chelsea bomber, on Monday.
Rahami was arrested carrying a small notebook which law enforcement sources say is full of ramblings referring to multiple attacks on US soil, including the Fort Hood attack and the Boston Marathon bombings, and references to killing the “kuffar”, or unbelievers. He recanted, saying he had said that about his child out of anger.
Ahmad Rahami became radicalized during trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan over the last four years, authorities said, with friends and neighbors noting a change in the suspect after the 2014 visit. Ultimately, federal investigators believed it was a domestic dispute, several federal officials told CNN. Lynch also said United States authorities were investigating the stabbings “as an act of terrorism”. Then on Saturday about 8:30 p.m., a bomb exploded in a dumpster in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, spewing shrapnel and broken glass over the street and causing 29 minor injuries.
After that, he worked full-time at First American Fried Chicken, a restaurant in Elizabeth owned by his father. However, investigators found no evidence to prompt a full-scale investigation into the son, and the initial investigation was closed without action, the law enforcement official said.
Prosecutors in Union County, New Jersey charged Rahami with five counts of attempted first-degree murder and two second-degree weapons counts.
Rahami’s father told local police in 2014 that he suspected his son might become a terrorist, a USA official said.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Rahami had a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
His reported arrest came around four hours after the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a mugshot of the brown-haired and bearded Rahami, calling him “armed and risky”, in text message alerts sent to millions of people in the NY area.
The official, and other USA security sources, said Rahami underwent secondary screening upon returning from overseas but passed on every occasion.
The FBI followed up with Rahami but he recanted his statements, sources said.
Democratic US Representative Albio Sires, whose congressional district includes Elizabeth, said Rahami contacted his office in 2014 because he wanted help in facilitating his wife’s immigration to the United States from Pakistan.
Authorities have been probing a number of trips by Rahami to Pakistan, including one that lasted for almost a year. “They told her that she could not come over until she had the baby, because she had to get a visa for the baby”.
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Rahami also apparently wrote of his desire to be a martyr, and of concerns that he would be caught before being able to carry out a suicide attack.
