USA federal prosecutors have charged an Afghan-American with detonating and planting bombs in NY and New Jersey that left at least 31 people wounded.
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Licata, the JTTF agent, wrote that Rahami’s fingerprints were found on one pressure cooker found on 27th Street in Manhattan that did not go off, that his vehicle entered and exited Manhattan on the night the bombs went off, and that video surveillance showed him walking by a site on 23rd Street before an explosive went off there, injuring 31 people.
The FBI is now analysing eight other unexploded bombs recovered from Manhattan and New Jersey, fingerprints and DNA, for clues as to how he may have become radicalised, and whether he acted alone.
Rahami is also suspected of planting a bomb that exploded on the New Jersey shore on Saturday, a device found near the NY blast, and up to six more devices found near the Elizabeth train station on Sunday night.
A complaint filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan documents the physical evidence showing how Ahmad Khan Rahami allegedly carried out the attacks and indicating why he did so.
Electronic toll records showed that a vehicle to which he had access was driven from New Jersey to Manhattan and back to New Jersey the day of the bombing, according to the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss an ongoing case.
Rahami was apprehended on Monday in Linden, New Jersey, after a shootout with police that left him with multiple gunshot wounds.
The 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen also faces charges in New Jersey state court stemming from a shootout with police in Linden.
It’s not immediately clear whether Rahami has a lawyer who can comment on the charges.
That interview stemmed from a tip alleging that Rahami’s father was calling his son a terrorist, according to two U.S. officials.
Ball bearings were found in two pressure cooker bombs placed four blocks apart in the Chelsea neighborhood of NY late Saturday.
The 13-page indictment slapped him with four charges, including use of weapons of mass destruction, bombing a place of public use and destruction of property by means of fire or explosives.
Investigators have said the two men are being sought as witnesses, not suspects.
The event was due to begin around 35 minutes before the attack but was delayed and then cancelled after the blasts, where only one of three connected pipe bombs exploded after being detonated using a mobile phone.
He was also filmed on a video shot by a family member exploding a partially buried device on 15 September, just two days before the Chelsea bombings.
In Rahami’s case, the law enforcement official said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had opened up an “assessment, ” the least intrusive form of an Federal Bureau of Investigation inquiry.
Meanwhile, investigators are looking into Rahami’s overseas travel, including a visit to Pakistan, and possible funding or training from extremist organisations.
Rahami and his family live above their fried-chicken restaurant – called First American Fried Chicken – and the family has clashed with the city over closing times and noise complaints, which the Rahamis said in a lawsuit were tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment.
When these types of complaints come in, they usually go into the FBI’s Guardian Threat Tracking System, which prompts a limited level of investigation and surveillance.
However, Rahami’s wife eventually made it to the United States – and she left before Saturday’s attacks, according to a law enforcement official.
He also prays to die a martyr after carrying out “a suicide attack”, asking “ALLAH to not take JIHAD away …” He has been charged in two federal courts, Manhattan and Newark, on nine counts.
Sepulveda wouldn’t discuss where else Rahami had security assignments but said he was unaware of any complaints about his conduct.
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“He should’ve came to someone, he probably could’ve saved his son and saved a lot of grief”, said Imam Ali Jaaber of the Masjid Darul Islam mosque here.
