As police released more photos of Rahami Monday morning, they confirmed that he is wanted in connection with both the the Seaside Park explosion in New Jersey, as well as the Chelsea explosion.
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The White House said President Obama was briefed throughout the night and early Monday on the investigation.
Authorities believe the three bombing incidents this weekend in Seaside Park, New Jersey, New York City, and Elizabeth, New Jersey, are related. The official, who was not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reiterated that the Chelsea bombing was an “act for terrorism”, and said there may be a “foreign link”, despite his claim on Sunday that were was no connection to “international terrorism”. 29 people were injured in the blast, all of whom were released from the hospital after receiving medical treatment. It was found around 9:30 p.m.in a wastebasket outside a neighborhood pub, about 500 feet from a train trestle. A suspect was also shot. Only one exploded, and no one was injured. The FBI’s NY field office confirmed a traffic stop had been conducted, but added that no charges had been made.
“In the course of rendering one of the devices safe, it detonated”.
Police checked all garbage cans in the immediate area, but found no other suspicious items. The restaurant was searched by authorities Monday morning.
Rahami’s family operated a fried-chicken restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, in the Elmora section of the city, which is New Jersey’s fourth-largest municipality.
Elizabeth is about 16 miles southwest of New York City.
A group of men were stopped and questioned in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday night in connection with the explosions, but their current status was unclear, other national security sources said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Saturday night blast in Manhattan that injured 29 people didn’t appear to be linked to worldwide terrorism. One person who was too rattled to give his name said the victim appeared to have been shot a couple of times and was “still twitching”.
Rahami was found sleeping inside the foyer to the entrance of Merdie’s Tavern, a local bar in Linden, New Jersey, according to local police dispatch.
New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were also being held up at New York Penn Station, according to authorities.
“We need to get this guy in right away”, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had said at a Sunday press conference televised on CNN. “We’re not taking any options off the table”.
Many developments have emerged since Saturday’s explosion in Manhattan, which occurred around 8:30 p.m. ET.
Explosive devices in NY and New Jersey may be linked, a homeland security official told Reuters.
A law enforcement source told NBC that a fingerprint on an unexploded device linked the bombings to Rahami; cellphone information also helped. As the Two-Way reported, “Both were pressure cookers and Christmas lights were used to spark the explosives”.
Two senior law enforcement officials told NBC New York the footage showed a man pulling a suitcase that appeared to contain the second explosive device, which he took out and left behind as he walked away.
Five men had already been detained and questioned over Saturday’s bomb attack in Chelsea, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation stopped “a vehicle of interest” in Brooklyn on Sunday night. A bomb squad removed it. A forensic examination of the device and its components will be conducted at the FBI Laboratory at Quantico, Virginia.
Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said one of the devices exploded as police tried to disarm it with a robot.
The heightened alert comes as world leaders are gathering Monday for the United Nations General Assembly.
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He told the AP news agency the man was initially presumed to be a vagrant, but police officers who responded quickly realized it was Rahami. President Obama is among the speakers.
