Authorities believe the three bombs – one exploding in an oceanfront town on the New Jersey shore, one in Manhattan and another in Elizabeth, a town bordering Newark International Airport, just beyond New York City’s borders – are related.
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Investigators say they have found traces of an explosive at the scene.
Rahami has been charged with five counts of attempted murder in connection with an exchange of gunfire he had with officers who confronted and arrested him in Linden, New Jersey, just west of NY.
Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came late Monday morning, when a bar owner reported someone asleep in his doorway.
Authorities have not drawn any connection between the violence in Minnesota and the bombings in the NY area.
No suspects were immediately identified in the NY and New Jersey attacks. The first one, placed in a dumpster on West 23rd Street and 6th Avenue, went off at approximately 8:30pm local time that night, injuring 29.
Police suspect Rahami was also behind a bomb that exploded in a New Jersey beach town on Saturday, as well as leaving the device found on the sidewalk after the NY blast.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said it was clearly “an act of terrorism”, although it hadn’t been linked to an worldwide terrorist group. On Sunday, five more devices were found in Elizabeth, the suspect’s hometown.Police in Linden, New Jersey, which neighbors Elizabeth about 20 miles (32 km) west of NY, captured Rahami after responding to a complaint by a bar owner of a man sleeping in the closed establishment’s hallway.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck is asking Emmys attendees to remain vigilant in the wake of explosions in New York City and New Jersey.
“We’re going to be very careful and patient to get to the full truth here”, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday.
A second device was later found inside a plastic bag blocks away, and it appeared to be a pressure cooker with wiring and a cellphone attached to it. In the search after the Chelsea explosion, officials found a possible second device on 27th Street, said James O’Neill, the city’s police commissioner.
Security was stepped up in New York City yesterday, with an additional 1,000 state police officers and state troopers deployed.
While officials described the weekend bombs and the Minnesota attack as deliberate, criminal acts and said they were investigating them as potential acts of terrorism, they stopped short of characterizing the motivation behind any of them until more evidence is uncovered.
Peter Bilinskas said he was standing by his desk at his Linden bowling-supply shop when he heard what sounded like gunfire and saw a man walking down the street with a gun in his hand.
“We all have a role to play as citizens to make sure we don’t succumb to that fear”.
Security has been stepped up as members of the United Nations General Assembly gather in NY for a summit Monday. The remaining four devices will be transferred to the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory at Quantico, Virginia, said Bollwage.
The pipe bomb exploded on Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity 5K race to benefit Marines and sailors.
Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage says two men called police and reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package after finding it at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, left, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo talk with area residents Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016, while touring the site of an explosion that occurred on Saturday night in the Chelsea neighborhood of.
And on Sunday night, five explosive devices were found near an Elizabeth, New Jersey, train station. She said no one has been charged.
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The bomb that rocked a bustling Manhattan neighborhood contained residue of an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores, a federal law enforcement official said Sunday, as authorities tried to unravel who planted the device and why.
