The wife and mother of bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami left the USA just days before the coordinated attacks in Manhattan and New Jersey, a law enforcement official revealed.
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Ahmad Khan Rahami is taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Linden, N.J. Rahami was wanted for questioning in the bombings that rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of NY and the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, has been charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer after an exchange of gunfire with police, September 19, 2016.
Mohammad confirmed the report to the press after closing up his Elizabeth, NJ restaurant, First American Fried Chicken: “Yes, I called the Federal Bureau of Investigation”, he said.
He lived with family members above their storefront First American Fried Chicken restaurant in Elizabeth, New Jersey, near New York City.
In 2014, Rahami’s father, Muhammed Rahami, says he reported his son to authorities as a possible terrorist.
The notebook also praised leading Al Qaeda propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, whose online publication “Inspire Magazine” has published instructions for building explosive devices similar to those used in the New York-area bombs, one official reports.
► Investigators found a rambling notebook belonging to Rahami that is filled with Jihadi-related rants, and Al Qaeda references including to Anwar Al-Alawaki, a former US citizen turned inspirational Al Qaeda spokesman who was killed by a drone strike in 2011.
Police are investigating the motives behind Saturday’s bombing in the NY neighborhood of Chelsea, which injured 29 people. Rahami is also considered a person of interest for the five pipe bombs found near the Elizabeth, New Jersey train station on Sunday.
The Afghanistan-born man is a naturalized US citizen. He told officials he was visiting his wife, uncles and aunts.
Rahami wasn’t on any terror or no-fly watch lists, though he had been interviewed for immigration purposes while traveling between the US and Afghanistan, one of the law enforcement officials said.
The complaint also includes excerpts from a handwritten journal authorities say they he wrote.
According to The New York Times, authorities are investigating whether Ahmad had any assistance building the bombs or if anyone knew of his plans beforehand, with particular attention given to trips the suspect made overseas between 2010 and 2014. The official who spoke to AP insisted on anonymity. As Trump supporters at a rally in Florida shouted “Hang him!” the Republican presidential candidate mocked the fact that Rahami would receive quality medical care and legal representation.
The FBI said it does not yet know why the Chelsea neighborhood was targeted.
Mohammad later recanted his statements, instead telling federal agents his son was fraternizing with the wrong crowd. He has since been charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and a slew of other charges.
Two years later, in April 2013, he went to Pakistan and remained there until March 2014 before returning to the U.S., official said.
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A pressure cooker bomb left on West 23rd street, which injured 31 people, caused “caused significant injuries and multiple-million dollars of property damage across a 650-foot crime scene”, Licata’s complaint said. More charges were expected.
