A criminal complaint was unsealed in Newark, New Jersey, shortly after a virtually identical filing was unsealed in NY.
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Two other pipe bombs in Seaside Park failed to detonate, as did a pressure cooker device in Chelsea, and five pipe bombs in his hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, which were defused safely on Monday. One of the bombs went off while police were trying to defuse it.
As of late Monday, authorities had not determined a motive for Rahami, who has been linked to bombings over the weekend in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea and in New Jersey. In a handwritten journal, he warned that bombs would resound in the streets and prayed he’d be martyred rather than caught, authorities say.
The New York bomb suspect, Ahmad Rahami, was on Tuesday charged for the blasts in New York and New Jersey.
The 13-page indictment laid four charges against him, including the use of weapons of mass destruction, bombing a place of public use and destruction of property by means of fire or explosives.
Officials say so far they have found no connection between Rahami and any militant groups, including the Taliban or the Islamic State (ISIS) group.
“He sent an email to my office from Pakistan, and he had said to me that he had been in Pakistan since April 2013 and we received the email on March 2014”, Sires told CNN. He ended the note with: “Inshallah [God willing] the sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets”. Gun shots to your police. “Death to you oppression”, according to court documents.
Just two days before Saturday’s bombings, a relative’s cell phone recorded Rahami igniting incendiary material in a cylinder buried in a backyard, the fuse being lighted, a loud noise and flames, “followed by billowing smoke and laughter”, the complaints said.
An Afghan immigrant suspected of setting off a bomb in Manhattan at the weekend is arrested after a shootout with police. At the time, he was employed by Summit Security, a private contractor.
“An official, when asked about the inquiry, said the father made the comment out of anger at his son”, The Times reported. He was being held on $5.2 million bail and remained at a hospital.
The court complaint also describes Rahami buying bomb-making equipment so openly that he ordered citric acid, ball bearings and electronic igniters on eBay and had them delivered to a New Jersey business where he worked until earlier this month.
Rahami is also charged in federal court in New Jersey with a separate five count complaint. According to the complaint, phones created to function as timers on bombs in Seaside Park and Chelsea were shipped to and believe to be purchased at the same Perth Amboy store, which was located approximately 500 meters from an address Rahami listed as his residence on a 2012 passport application.
A judge has granted temporary sole custody to the mother of a child whose father has been charged with planting bombs in NY and New Jersey.
William Sweeney, the FBI’s assistant director in NY, said on Monday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had gotten a report of a domestic incident involving Rahami some time ago, but the allegations had been recanted, and “there’s nothing to indicate that now he was on our radar”.
In addition to bin Laden, the journal contained references to US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and Fort Hood, Texas, mass shooter Nidal Hasan.
The suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, bought bomb components on eBay, made a video of himself testing out homemade explosives, and kept a journal expressing outrage at the USA “slaughter” of mujahideen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Palestine, federal officials allege.
One focus is on trips he took to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Tucker reported from Washington. (AP Photo) A still image captured from a video from WABC television shows a conscious man believed to be NY bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami being loaded into an ambulance after a shootout.
His last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where his family lives.
On the brief form, she indicated that she was requesting full custody because the “defendant has been charged with police attempted murder and is now under protective services after possible terrorist related activity in NYC”.
Fellow Linden Police Officer Angel Padilla is said to be fine after being struck in his bulletproof vest.
Another Linden officer, Pete Hammer, was released Tuesday.
This one starts with Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28.
The FBI said Tuesday it assessed Rahami’s activities in 2014 after his father told agents he was concerned about his son’s possible involvement with extremists.
In August 2014, Rahami was charged with aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a knife after being accused of stabbing Nasim Rahami in the leg.
He stood trial in front of a grand jury but was not indicted.
The official who spoke to AP insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
– Eric Tucker in Washington and Josh Cornfield in Pennsylvania contributed to this report.
They said the injury toll from the Manhattan bombing had risen from 29 to at least 31, and included a British national.
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West 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues is open to pedestrians and vehicles.
