To neighbors and customers of his family’s storefront chicken takeout, Ahmad Khan Rahami was a friendly, quiet presence behind the counter who liked talking about cars and was generous with free food.
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A photo of Rahami, published in the Edison High School yearbook when he graduated in 2007, shows him with a carefully groomed goatee, wearing a crimson vest and tie.
The official who spoke to AP insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Rahami’s father told reporters Tuesday outside the family’s fried-chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, that he called the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the time because Rahami “was doing real bad”, having stabbed the brother and hit his mother. The official says he’s seen in surveillance footage “clear as day” at the scene of the Saturday night bombing in Manhattan.
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.
Rahami, 28, has been “directly linked” to the devices that exploded in NY and New Jersey on Saturday, said Bill Sweeney, who heads the FBI’s NY office.
After hedging on any potential terror angle over the weekend, Mayor de Blasio said at a news briefing Monday that there is “every reason to believe” the bombings in the city and in New Jersey were “an act of terror”. A foot chase ensued, during which Rahami shot at a police vehicle, causing a bullet to graze another officer in the face.
The New York City Police Department had earlier on Monday released a photograph of Rahami as the suspect in the Manhattan explosion incident, that left 29 people injured. He is now charged with five counts of attempted murder of police officers while the prosecution prepares its case for the bombings. Ball bearings and BBs were among pieces of metal that appeared to be packed inside, a federal law enforcement official said.
Upon his return to the United States, immigration officials asked about these travels, to which Rahami replied that he was visiting family, satisfying any concerns they may have had at the time.
Asked by NBC News if he knew his son was allegedly involved in bomb-making, Mohammad Rahami said, “No”.
The bombings put NY on edge and fueled a political debate about US security seven weeks before the presidential election, with candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton again clashing on the threat posed by Islamic militants.
Rahami and two police officers were wounded in the exchange of gunfire before his arrest. Authorities are investigating the stabbings as a possible terrorist attack but have not drawn any connection between the bloodshed there and the bombings.
Sweeney Jr., said there is “no indication” of an active operating cell in the NY area, evidence suggests Rahami was not acting alone, sources told CNN.
According to an official who reviewed Rahami’s travel and immigration record, he had spent several weeks in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2011, when he married.
Rahami and his family live above their restaurant – called First American Fried Chicken – and the family has clashed with the city over closing times and noise complaints, which the Rahamis said in a lawsuit were tinged with anti-Muslim sentiment. Mohammad Rahami later recanted. “That’s what’s so scary”.
One officer was taken to a hospital for surgery, according to an official.
Another pressure cooker bomb was found unexploded near the Chelsea bombing. A bar owner in Linden, NJ spotted a man sleeping in his doorway Monday morning and called police. A cell phone connected to the pressure cooker also provided some clues, the official said. When brought in for questioning by USA immigration, he said he was visiting family.
He would not say whether they might later face charges.
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No evidence has yet been found that Rahami had military training overseas, according to the New York Times.
