By Renae Merle, Matt Zapotosky, Amy B Wang and Mark Berman-September 19
ELIZABETH, N.J. – Authorities on Monday apprehended 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami — wanted in connection in with two bombings Saturday, in Seaside Park, N.J., and Manhattan — after an apparent shootout with police, according to the mayor of Elizabeth, N.J.
An explosive device detonated as a bomb squad robot attempted to disarm it Sept.18. This was one of multiple devices found in a suspicious package near a train station in New Jersey.(Reuters)
Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters that Rahami was taken into custody in Linden, just south of Elizabeth; two officers were shot, one in the hand, one in the vest, the mayor said. But Bollwage noted that it was unclear who shot the officers.
An explosive device detonated as a bomb squad robot attempted to disarm it Sept.18. This was one of multiple devices found in a suspicious package near a train station in New Jersey.(Reuters)
Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage told reporters that Rahami was taken into custody in Linden, just south of Elizabeth; two officers were shot, one in the hand, one in the vest, the mayor said. But Bollwage noted that it was unclear who shot the officers.
Rahami was also shot and was taken away in an ambulance, the mayor said. Video on CNN showed the suspect being wheeled into an ambulance, hands cuffed, eyes open.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said officials will not jump to conclusions or offer "easy answers" in relation to a deliberate explosion in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood that injured nearly 30 people. (Reuters)
President Obama sought to reassure the public Sept. 19, after a series of explosives were planted in New York and New Jersey over the weekend. (The Washington Post)
Police and the FBI had announced earlier Monday they were seeking Rahami in connection with the bombings in New Jersey and Manhattan, though his role in the incidents remains unclear.
Rahami is a U.S. citizen of Afghan descent born in Afghanistan, according to the FBI; law enforcement officials said they were investigating whether he could have been influenced by international militant groups or the ongoing conflict in his homeland.
The FBI added Rahami to its “Most Wanted” list Monday, noting that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
The announcement came after authorities took five people into custody Sunday night in connection with the Chelsea bombing, and their counterparts in New Jersey worked to render safe “multiple improvised explosive devices” discovered at a train station in Elizabeth just across from Staten Island.
Authorities have not yet confirmed any connections between the devices discovered in Elizabeth on Sunday night and the earlier bombings. A federal law enforcement official told The Washington Post they believe all three cases to be linked and are still questioning the five people who were taken in Sunday.
They would not say whether the five were linked to Rahami or how Rahami’s family fit in, if at all.
FBI agents also launched an “operation” at an address on Elmora Avenue in Elizabeth, about a mile away from New Jersey Transit’s Elizabeth station. Court records show members of the Rahami family live and work at the address, where a restaurant called “First American Fried Chicken” is located on the ground floor.
Court records show that several members of the Rahami family had owned and operated the restaurant since 2002. It is unclear when Ahmad Rahami himself lived there or what role — if any — he had in the business.
Bollwage, the mayor, said Monday that there was no one in the house or restaurant, adding: “I am not aware of where the other members of the family are at this time.”
In 2011, the Rahami family sued the City of Elizabeth and several police officers, alleging they had been inappropriately cited for keeping their business open past 10 p.m. and harassed by police.
They alleged a man in the neighborhood told them “you are Muslims” and “Muslims make too much trouble in this country” and complained unfairly to law enforcement, who singled them out “solely on animus against [their] religion, creed, race and national origin.”
In one instance, they alleged, two Rahami family members were actually arrested for attempting to record a conversation with officers.
The developments Monday sowed further concern about terrorism in the region and across the country. Already, police had been investigating three weekend incidents — explosions in New York and New Jersey and a stabbing attack in a Minnesota mall — that took place within a 12-hour period on Saturday.
Speaking to “Good Morning America” on Monday morning, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the investigation into the Chelsea bombing “is definitely leaning” in the direction of terrorism. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo told CBS News on Monday that “there may be a foreign connection” involving the bombing in Manhattan, though he did not elaborate on what that connection might be.
About 8:45 p.m. Sunday, the FBI and the New York Police Department stopped what the bureau’s New York field office called a “vehicle of interest” in the Manhattan bombing investigation, and took people into custody. As of early Monday, authorities said no one had been charged with a crime and the investigation was continuing.
An FBI spokeswoman, Kelly Langmesser, gave no further details on those detained. But the Associated Press, citing government and law enforcement officials, reported that five people were questioned.
