New York explosion that injured 29 was 'intentional act,' mayor says
New York (CNN)Police are hunting for answers on what caused an explosion that injured 29 people in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, shortly before a second suspicious device was found nearby.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters early indications are that the explosion at 23rd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan at about 8.30 p.m. Saturday "was an intentional act."
But, he said, "there's no specific and credible threat against New York City at this time from any terror organization."[which means nothing]
Investigators believe the blast was caused by an explosive device in or near a dumpster, a law enforcement source told CNN.
They are looking at surveillance video that appears to show a person near where the explosion occurred, in an attempt to determine if that individual is connected to the blast.
Just blocks away from the explosion, a suspicious device was found at 27th Street, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement officials.
The object was a pressure cooker with dark colored wiring protruding, connected by silver duct tape to what appears to be a cellphone, officials said. A piece of paper with writing on it was found nearby.
None of the officials would say at this point what was inside the pressure cooker, which has since been removed from the scene.
Pressure cookers were used as explosive devices in the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260 in 2013.
Police officers and federal agents were scouring the streets with flashlights, robots and dogs early Sunday to ensure there were no other devices in the area. Attention focused on another object in the area, but it turned out to be trash.
Police have increased security across New York's five boroughs as a precaution, a law enforcement source told CNN.
This was apparently a pretty powerful explosive device going off in a busy part of town with a lot of night clubs, restaurants and stores; it's a miracle no one was killed. (Though one of the injuries is described as critical.)
And then earlier in the day in New Jersey, there was this:
Bomb explodes near Marine Corps race in New Jersey
(CNN)An explosion that went off in a garbage can Saturday morning in a New Jersey beach town likely was timed to disrupt a Marine Corps charity run, authorities said.
Three pipe-bomb-type devices wired together were found near the boardwalk in Seaside Park. No injuries were reported and a four-block area was evacuated for most of the day, authorities said.
An initial examination showed the devices were rudimentary, with some type of timer, and only one of them detonated, two federal law enforcement officials told CNN.
Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor's office, said he believes the blast was meant to affect the Seaside Semper Five race.
"If it was just a matter of minutes, in terms of difference, there would have been a good number of people running past that explosive device" because of its location along the race route, Della Fave said.
Registration problems at the starting line delayed the start of the race, which meant no one was near the garbage can when the explosion happened, a law enforcement official said.
I'm going to be very surprised if these two bombings are not connected in some way...
I think it's overwhelmingly likely either the same person or persons did both (Ocean City is less than a 2 1/2 hour drive from Manhattan) or they were known to each other and co-ordinated their attacks. Both used rudimentary home made devices, and both were placed in similar locations, and both were set up in such a way as to give the bomb placers plenty of time to get out of the area.
The good news is that whoever did this, they aren't real pros. Not if one of their pressure cooker bombs failed to detonate, and two of their three pipe bombs didn't go off...
The bad news is that while they aren't straight up professionals, they also aren't total incompetents. Two of their devices went off, (the one in Manhattan packing a very substantial blast) and the timing they set for the one that went off in Ocean City suggests they also put some planning into their attacks. It's just a matter of sheer good fortune that no one has thus far been killed.
And of course the very bad news is that whoever did this is still at large, and so long as that is the case they could strike again...
It's been the pattern in past cases that people who carry out these sorts of semi-pro attacks haven't had very well thought out after-action plans, and have tended to be very careless. (the Boston bombers had to rob somebody for get-away money; one of the participants in the Charlie Hebdo attack left his wallet and ID in the get-away car, and the San Bernadino attackers were driving around in the area in an easily traced rental car.)
Let's hope that pattern holds here; it will make whoever did this a lot easier to catch and end the threat they continue to represent much more quickly...
LJ sez: I think it's overwhelmingly likely either the same person or persons did both (Ocean City is less than a 2 1/2 hour drive from Manhattan) or they were known to each other and coordinated their attacks.
LJ, to clarify: The race was being held in Seaside (Heights) which is in Ocean COUNTY -- not Ocean CITY. Seaside is closer to Asbury Park which is about an hour's drive from Manhattan. Ocean City is in Cape May County, just below Atlantic City and that is probably a two hour drive from NYC. This, to me, makes the connection even more than you speculate.
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
Thanks for the clarification Ray, I guess I misread that...
Investigators Find Some Similarities Between NJ, NY Bombs
NEW YORK (CNN) — Investigators have found some similarities between a bomb that exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and the explosive devices in New York City, according to multiple law enforcement officials, but authorities Sunday said they have not concluded the incidents are connected.
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill said Sunday afternoon that at this point investigators do not see a connection between the New Jersey bomb and the New York City devices, and that the investigation is ongoing.
Earlier, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the two devices in New York — a bomb that exploded Saturday night in the Chelsea neighborhood and an unexploded pressure-cooker device found nearby — were similar to one another. Officials told CNN the two devices in New York City both used a cell phone as a timing device. The phones were also similar in design, officials said.
Three devices along a charity-race route in New Jersey — only one of which exploded — were also rigged to detonate using a cell phone as a timer.
The devices in New Jersey contained black powder, which is an easily attainable explosive ingredient, several law enforcement officials told CNN. The FBI is planning to take the New York pressure-cooker device to its lab in Quantico for further analysis.
None of the devices are very sophisticated, but they show enough know-how to be lethal, officials said.
It doesn't appear that the authorities have developed much in the way of leads at this point, (or if they have, they're doing a very good job of not having it leak to the press)
One of the things that was critical in developing the leads on the Boston bombers was CCTV and private video footage...it doesn't seem that's been very helpful with this so far...
Five explosive devices have been found in a backpack at a train station in New Jersey as the security alert gripping America ratcheted up in the wake of the Manhattan bombing.
One of the devices exploded when a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it at Elizabeth train station, the local mayor said.
Christian Bollwage said that the device exploded shortly after 12:30am on Monday. The FBI was leading the investigation and working to disarm the other four devices.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Has anyone said what the explosive was; some are easier to make and harder to trace than others? For example dynamite leaves quite a paper trail, but one could make their black powder using poop and urine to make the main ingredient. And yes Robuto, I know that black power is not technically an explosive, but it works.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
Police release photo of man sought in connection with NYC blast
Authorities have identified a person of interest in connection with the New York City bombing that injured 29 people
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is being sought in connection to the blast that injured 29 people in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, the New York City Police Department said early Monday.
CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues reports that investigators believe Rahami may be part of a terror cell and consider him extremely dangerous.
FBI agents pulled over a car on a highway in Brooklyn on Sunday night and were questioning its occupants in connection with the investigation into the blast, authorities said.
Agents stopped “a vehicle of interest in the investigation” at 8:45 p.m. Sunday, according to FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser
She wouldn’t provide further details, but a source told CBS News five people were being interrogated.
NY/NJ bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami in custody after shooting police officer: NBC News
Ahmad Rahami, whom officials have identified as a suspect in the New York and New Jersey bombings, is now in custody after shooting a police officer in Linden, New Jersey, reported NBC.
The officer has non life-threatening injuries, a senior official told NBC News. Two sources said Rahami had also been shot and is en route to a hospital.
On Saturday, a bomb exploded in the New Jersey shore town on Seaside Park, forcing the cancellation of a large charity race. Later in the day, a bombing in New York's Chelsea neighborhood injured 29 people. Officers found a possible secondary device nearby. On Sunday, five additional explosive devices were found near a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Rahami, a 28-year-old Afghan-born U.S. citizen, was identified as a suspect on Monday in the bombings.
Once more the CNN talking heads amaze me with their absence of erudition, or even a reasonable size bag of cliche's.
The mayor declares the bomb was an intentional act!?! What are the alternatives? It was created by a million monkeys working at random in a junk yard? Somebody assembled it while sleep walking? Or am I missing the irony? Was the quote intended to make the mayor look like an idiot?
Please. You are driving me to Larry King and RT (which on my cable system is right next to the French 24/7 English language news service.)
Apparently this was another one with a cunning after-action plan:
CBS New York reports Linden police got a call about a man sleeping in a doorway at a business on Monday morning. When a responding officer approached the man, the man raised his head and that’s when the officer recognized him as Rahami, Capt. James Sarnicki with Linden police told CBS New York.
"Okay, after I've planted 10 bombs in four different locations, and my name and face are plastered all over television, the internet, and on millions of cell phones, I'll curl up and take a nap in the doorway of a bar three miles from where I live"...
I guess rather than fleeing the area or hunkering down in some secret lair, he was going with "hiding in plain sight" ...
Lord Jim wrote:"Okay, after I've planted 10 bombs in four different locations, and my name and face are plastered all over television, the internet, and on millions of cell phones, I'll curl up and take a nap in the doorway of a bar three miles from where I live"...
I guess rather than fleeing the area or hunkering down in some secret lair, he was going with "hiding in plain sight" ...
You try going to the city then down the shore and back on a beautiful late-summer weekend. It's exhausting!
Burning Petard wrote:
The mayor declares the bomb was an intentional act!?! What are the alternatives?
Twenty-nine people were injured tonight in a densely packed Chelsea neighborhood by an explosion that Mayor Bill de Blasio described as “an intentional act.”
At a press conference in Chelsea, the mayor also said that it was too early to tell whether the explosion was caused by a bomb, and there was “no evidence" yet that it was an act of terrorism.
In the initial reaction, the mayor was saying the explosion was an intentional act, not an accident of some kind. At that point, he did not even know if it was a bomb, let alone if it was terrorist related. I don't think he ever said the bomb was an intentional act, but it would not surprise me if some less than careful talking heads conflated the stories.
Burning Petard wrote:Once more the CNN talking heads amaze me with their absence of erudition, or even a reasonable size bag of cliche's.
The mayor declares the bomb was an intentional act!?! What are the alternatives? It was created by a million monkeys working at random in a junk yard? Somebody assembled it while sleep walking?
Thanks mate, that was a chuckle.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Does someone have to write these guys an operational manual; it looks like they want to get caught? Surely that can’t be the case, if one is motivated enough make and employ bombs they would want to maximize the damage to the enemy; that would mean evading capture as long as possible. This stuff is not brain surgery, I don’t understand why they can’t do better than this. I know that my Afghan cousins are as smart as anyone else to imply that they are not is racist
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
I feel sorry for this guy. I am sure he didn’t intend to humiliate his nation by such incompetence. Getting caught sleeping in a doorway in such a short time, how humiliating. If the guy had just worn a burka when he was placing the bombs that would have made it much harder for him to be identified. Of course the use of a burka would have required him to have worn the thing in the area quite a few times before the target day in order to condition the local population the sight of a burka..
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.
