The arrest just hours after police issued a bulletin and photo of Rahami, a naturalized US citizen from Afghanistan who lived with Muslim family in an apartment in Elizabeth, New Jersey, over a fried-chicken restaurant owned by his father.
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“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and we want to express our appreciation for those first responders who are addressing these awful acts, including the two police officers injured today in a shootout with a suspect”, the statement says.
Authorities sent out a cell phone alert early Monday asking people to call 911 if they spotted Rahami.
The black-and-white photo shows a bearded man in what appears to be a gray hoodie, while a series of other photographs show Rahami both clean shaven and with facial hair.
Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said that late on Monday morning, the owner of a bar reported someone asleep in his doorway.
When a police officer went to investigate and wake him up he realised he resembled the man in the wanted poster, the mayor said. “Thank God he had his vest on”.
“Never would I think in a million years that something like this would happen here”, she said.
“Mr. Rahami also sustained shots and an ambulance has taken him away”, Bollwage said.
“The gentleman got up and started walking down the street in a westerly direction”, Sarnicki said.
Rahami then began shooting “indiscriminately” along Elizabeth Avenue, the police said, and another officer was injured in the hand.
Early Monday, FBI agents swarmed an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth that is tied to Rahami.
After a fingerprint was found on a device that failed to detonate, Ahmad Rahami of Elizabeth, New Jersey was identified.
The Chelsea blast injured 29 people, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier said that it did not appear to be linked to worldwide terrorism.
One pipe bomb exploded and two more were recovered along the route of a 5K charity race at Seaside Park in aid of Marines on Saturday morning.
Update from the NYPD: About an hour ago, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took several individuals into custody on the Belt Parkway in the area underneath the Verrazano Bridge, with a possible connection to the bombing last night in Chelsea. Christian Bollwage, the mayor of Elizabeth, said that two men found a bag containing five devices in a trash can at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The activity came hours after one of five devices found at the nearby Elizabeth train station exploded while a bomb squad robot attempted to disarm it.
Mayor de Blasio said people will see “a very substantial NYPD presence this week – bigger than ever”. And New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials could not rule out worldwide terrorism.
Pearson reported from NY. No one has been charged with any crime.
Authorities are questioning several people as they try to determine any possible connection between an explosion in a bustling New York City neighborhood, an unexploded pressure-cooker device found blocks away and.
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“In the meantime, I would ask that the press to try to refrain fro getting our ahead of the investigation”, he said.
