“People didn’t know what was going on, and that’s what was scary”, said Anthony Zayas, an actor who was in the Chelsea neighborhood Saturday night when the bomb went off.
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Officials have been sifting through evidence retrieved from the scenes of the blasts in NY and New Jersey, a stabbing spree in Minnesota, and a backpack loaded with explosive devices discovered in Elizabeth, N.J.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the ongoing investigation. She said no one has been charged.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the investigation was focusing on a person of interest in the case.
Authorities found five separate devices inside the backpack.
Five people were detained on Sunday night in connection with the Chelsea bomb blast after a traffic stop at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City, police sources told PIX 11 and other local news outlets.
The devices in Elizabeth apparently looked similar to what detonated in Seaside Park, New Jersey, on Saturday morning ahead of a race. No one was injured, but race organizers say that casualties could have been severe – but by a stroke of luck the 9 a.m. race start was delayed because of late registrations.
Authorities are still investigating whether that bombing is linked to explosive devices found nearby in Manhattan and in two sites in New Jersey.
Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was working to disarm one of five devices found in the same bag, which was discovered in a trash can by two men around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, near the Elizabeth train station on New Jersey Transit’s Northeast Corridor rail line. No injuries were reported.
The discovery of the latest device comes as almost a thousand extra police are deployed on New York’s streets as world leaders arrive in the city for a United Nations summit on the refugee crisis.
Officials haven’t revealed any details about the makeup of the pressure cooker device, except to say it had wires and a cellphone attached to it. A second device was found four blocks away on West 27th Street. “Based on the loudness, I think people could have been severely hurt or injured if they had been in the vicinity”.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the Saturday night blast in Manhattan that injured 29 people didn’t appear to be linked to worldwide terrorism. The driver had just picked up three passengers and was driving when the explosion occurred, shattering the car’s windows and leaving gaping holes in the rear passenger-side door.
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Forensics experts are continuing to comb through evidence from the Manhattan bombing, which was described by witnesses as a deafening blast that shattered windows and hit bystanders with shrapnel.
