Danilo Gabrielli, 50, was watching TV at his 23rd Street apartment about a block away from the explosion site when he heard the blast.
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While officials described all three as deliberate, criminal acts and are investigating them as potential “acts of terrorism”, they stopped short of characterizing the motivation behind any of them until more evidence is uncovered. “We know there was a bombing”.
The blast, which occurred on Saturday night in Manhattan injured 29 people who have all been released from hospital.
While the two devices planted in Manhattan appear to be similar, they seem to be different than a pipe bomb that exploded in the neighboring state of New Jersey on Saturday causing no injuries, officials said.
A few hours earlier, at his own press conference, Governor Andrew Cuomo said, “A bomb exploding in NY is obviously an act of terrorism”. Whoever was responsible would be brought to justice, he said.
In New York, an additional one thousand state troopers and National Guards will be deployed along a large number of police personnel during the UN General Assembly session.
Yet when a very familiar area of Manhattan shook last night, around 7:30 p.m. (CST), jarred by a device planted inside an inconspicuously located dumpster near 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue, I still felt the reverberations, even almost 1000 miles away.
The second device, from photos shared on social media, resembles a pressure cooker – reminiscent of the one used in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Police say it was to be taken to the department firing range in the Bronx.
The recovered parts of explosive device are being sent to the FBI Lab in Quantico Virginia to be analyzed by bomb technicians, officials said.
Officials said there was no claim of responsibility for the blast in New York City and that investigators were scrambling for clues that could lead to a suspect or motive behind that attack, which caused injuries but no deaths. The driver of that cab was riding on 23rd Street when the blast went off and shrapnel from the explosion may have hit his auto. Investigators will be canvasing for additional video Sunday. Watch Gov. Cuomo’s full briefing here: Multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News that Tannerite, an explosive used for making exploding targets for firearms practice, is the likely source of the West 23rd Street detonation. No one was injured but the event was cancelled.
While police investigated the second site, spokesman J. Peter Donald tweeted a warning to some residents to stay away from windows facing 27th Street.
But the jihadist-linked Amaq news agency said Sunday that the “executor of the stabbing attacks. was a soldier of the Islamic State”. Investigators looked into it and didn’t consider it relevant to the case, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. PATH trains will make stops at the Christopher, 9th, 14th and 33rd street stations.
What we don’t know: Officials say they haven’t discovered any connection between the bombing and worldwide terror groups, but they’ve offered different assessments about whether the explosion should be described as terrorism.
Police have ruled out a connection to the blast in Central Park in July that blew off a teen’s foot. The couple was killed shortly after the attack in a shoot-out with police. “This was an intentional act, but we do not know the motivation”.
I wish we could vote for our next president this week, rather than enduring another 50 days of the most divisive presidential campaign of my lifetime-a campaign that has placed most of us in one of the diametrically opposed camps represented by our flawed Democratic and Republican nominees.
But Bill de Blasio said Sunday that authorities don’t yet know who made it, who set it off or the motivation behind it.
What we know: Around 8:30 p.m. Saturday an explosion occurred at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue on Manhattan’s west side.
Alexandra Tucto, a salesperson at the Chelsea Kennel Club said she was standing right outside the store when the explosion happened.
Jonathan Avidor felt the explosion.
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Gordon said he didn’t notice anything suspicious and it was just “a normal night walking through the streets”. “I have seen so many of this, and I can only say this was not the first and won’t be the last”, said the police veteran who had served for 22 years.
