On one hand, the mayor’s decision could be seen as a way of contrasting himself with fear-mongering bigots like Donald Trump, who told a crowd in Colorado that a “bomb went off in New York” before any public officials had confirmed the cause of the explosion, and used it as an opportunity to explain why “we’ve got to get very tough”.
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“Tonight, New York City experienced a very bad incident”, de Blasio said at a news conference near the scene in Chelsea.
The incidents raise concerns of terrorism less than two months before the USA presidential election and as world leaders gather in New York City for the 71st session of the UN General Assembly.
Experts said de Blasio, a Democrat, might be refraining from calling the explosion terrorism until authorities know more about the attackers.
“Now, I want to be clear whatever the cause, whatever the intention here, New Yorkers will not be intimidated”, the mayor said. “It’s a bad thing what’s going on in our world, what’s going on in our country, but we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant and we are going to end it”.
O’Neill said he could not say with a “100 percent degree of certainty” where the blast originated. City officials said police located the explosive device in the street next to a trash bin.
While investigators released few details, they said the blast was “intentional” and that an explosive device was found a few blocks from the site of the blast, inside a pressure cooker that was wired to a mobile phone and tucked inside a plastic bag. Police say it was to be taken to the department firing range in the Bronx.
As terrifying and destructive as the bombing was, it could have been worse, law enforcement officials said.
Pictures from the scene showed a twisted and crumpled black metal box.
The explosion occurred at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue.
A bomb believed to be in or around a dumpster went off around 8:30 p.m. Saturday. That means this is not the time for security to be taking it easy when host Jimmy Kimmel and cast members from hit shows like Game of Thrones, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, and Modern Family are about to be walking the red carpet at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. No one was injured in the New Jersey explosion.
Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the area. “In other words, we find no ISIS connection, et cetera”, said Cuomo in reference to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as ISIL.
“It was extremely loud, nearly like thunder but louder”, said Rudy Alcide, a bouncer at a nightclub near the blast. “It wasn’t like a collapse; it was like a boom like thunder, but like a hundred times louder than thunder”.
A Joint Terrorism Task Force, made up of different law enforcement agencies, has been called in to investigate, indicating the authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a terror link.
The White House said in a brief statement that President Barack Obama had been informed and would “be updated as additional information becomes available”.
The country was shaken by a trio of attacks over the weekend including a Saturday night bombing that injured 29 in Manhattan and a stabbing attack at a Minnesota shopping mall that wounded nine. The weekend’s attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota have put national security squarely back in the centre of the United States presidential election. “Obviously, we need to do everything we can to support our first responders”.
Pressed to respond to the governor’s comments, de Blasio said, “Let’s let the law enforcement experts draw the conclusions”.
“A bomb exploding in NY is obviously an act of terrorism, but it’s not linked to worldwide terrorism”.
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Cuomo also said there’s no evidence to suggest Saturday’s events are tied to one in July when a device exploded in Central Park, injuring an 18-year-old.
