During the inquiry, the father backed away from talk of terrorism and told investigators that he simply meant his son was hanging out with the wrong crowd, including gang members, and acting like a thug, the officials said.
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Authorities on Monday arrested the man they believe responsible for the recent bombings in NY and New Jersey after a swift manhunt culminating in a shootout that wounded the suspect and two officers.
He was listed in critical but stable condition as a result of his wounds, and police had not yet been able to interview him in depth, New York Police Department Commissioner James O’Neill said. Just because you make an arrest, that’s not where the investigation stops.
Rahami’s former classmates at Edison High School in Edison, New Jersey, were struggling to reconcile the “cool dude” who graduated in 2007 with the suspected terrorist who is now charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and likely to be hit with federal charges that could send him to jail for life.
Indictments were issued in both NY and New Jersey on Tuesday against the 28-year-old Afghan-born American, following Saturday’s bombings in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and along the route of a US Marine Corps run in a seaside town.
The FBI and local authorities are trying to determine if Rahami acted alone and are still questioning the five occupants of a vehicle that police stopped near the Verrazano Bridge on Sunday night, some of whom are said to be relatives of Rahami. It wasn’t clear when Rahami would get an attorney.
A Pakistani intelligence officer in Quetta said Tuesday that an initial investigation showed he had visited Quetta, a hub for militant groups, in 2011 and 2013.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said this afternoon there is “every reason to believe this was an act of terror”.
“In August 2014, the FBI initiated an assessment of Ahmad Rahami based upon comments made by his father after a domestic dispute that were subsequently reported to authorities”, the bureau said in a statement. One of the devices detonated at 12:40 a.m. on Monday as a police robot was being used in an attempt to defuse the bomb, according to the complaint.
Officials say Rahami traveled “extensively” in recent years to Afghanistan and Pakistan, where he married his wife, who then fell pregnant.
“He’s a very friendly guy”, patron Ryan McCann said.
Initially, a garbage can explosion at a Marine Corps charity race in Seaside Park, New Jersey, Saturday morning seemed to be an isolated incident. No one was injured.
All of the people injured in Saturday night’s blast have been released from hospitals.The bombings and subsequent manhunt prompted even greater security in NY.
After zeroing in on Rahami and learning of the vehicle that had traveled between New Jersey and NY, authorities pulled it over Sunday night after it headed in the direction of Kennedy airport.
However, there are contradictory accounts of how Rahami came to the attention of law enforcement.
All five were questioned and released, Sweeney said. Now they say he is a terrorist. Police found him after a bar owner spotted him sleeping in the doorway of his bar.
An officer arrived and confronted Rahami, who pulled a gun and fired, authorities said. Padilla was wearing a bulletproof vest. Officer Peter Hammer, who was grazed in the head by a bullet fragment, was discharged Tuesday.
Substantial police presence notwithstanding, life in NY appears to have returned to normal.
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Around the time Rahami was captured, President Barack Obama was in NY on a previously scheduled visit for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. He called on Americans to show the world “we will never give in to fear”.
