The law enforcement official also said that the explosion that rocked a bustling Chelsea neighbourhood appeared to have come from a construction toolbox in front of a building.
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As a police auto pulled up at the traffic light in front of the shop, the man fired about six shots at the cruiser, then continued down the street with police following him, Bilinskas said. Rahami sustained gunshot wounds and was taken away in an ambulance, Bollwage said.
The manhunt and subsequent police-involved shooting was triggered by the release of a “Wanted” poster Monday morning in which Rahami was identified as a person of interest.
Authorities released his name and photo Monday morning and said they wanted to question him in connection with the Saturday bombing in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, which injured 29 people, and the explosion Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Monday.
The first attack happened at a road race to benefit Marines and sailors at the Jersey Shore at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Authorities are now not looking for anyone else over the bombings and do not believe he was part of a wider cell.
Officials are also looking into if Rahami is connected to a backpack containing five pipe bombs found Sunday night on top of a trash can at a train station in Elizabeth. Amtrak trains heading to NY were held in Trenton early Monday. The message warned Rahami would be armed and unsafe. Rahami is a United States citizen who was born in Afghanistan on January 23, 1988, officials said.
Cellphones were discovered at the site of both the NY and New Jersey bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to comment on the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority said commuters should expect a greater uniformed presence on subway and rail lines, including the Long Island Rail Road.
One officer was reported to have been shot during the encounter and another officer had a head injury, the Linden mayor’s office announced.
New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio said the blast in Chelsea was an “intentional act” but he insisted that there was no credible terrorist threat to the city and there was no link with the New Jersey explosion. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the bombs had some similarities but provided no other details.
“Tonight, New York City experienced a very bad incident”, de Blasio said at a news conference near the scene in Chelsea. One officer was shot in his bulletproof vest and another was shot in the hand.
There is “no evidence of an worldwide terrorism connection with this incident”, Cuomo told reporters Sunday.
“We will find whoever did this, or whatever group did this and they will be brought to justice, period”, Cuomo said.
Also on Saturday, a man who authorities say referred to Allah wounded nine people in a stabbing rampage at a Minnesota mall before being shot to death by an off-duty police officer. Amtrak shut down service on its Northeast corridor between NY and Trenton, New Jersey, because of the police activity.
Obama’s remarks came just minutes before news trickled out regarding Rahami’s capture.
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“They want to inspire fear in all of us and disrupt the way we live, to undermine our values and so even as we have to be vigilant and aggressive…”
