Police capture immigrant sought in New York-area bombings

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that people will see “a very substantial NYPD presence this week – bigger than ever”.

A pressure-cooker bomb packed with shrapnel exploded Saturday evening in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. A pressure cooker device was also found blocks away, but it didn’t explode. No one was injured.

Earlier Monday, a device found in a backpack near a train station in New Jersey exploded while a bomb squad robot was trying to disarm it, authorities said.

Authorities said the Manhattan bombing and New Jersey pipe bomb didn’t appear to be connected, though they weren’t ruling anything out.

With Rahami’s arrest, officials said they have no indication there are more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned that they are still working to understand Rahami’s connections. His motive remains unclear, New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said.

A federal defender is complaining that bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami has not had access to a lawyer since he was arrested in New Jersey on Monday.

Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent William Sweeney said there was “no indication” the suspect was acting as part of a terror cell.

NY police Commissioner James O’Neill emphasized how a quick law enforcement response led police to identify Rahami as the suspect and take him into custody just 50 hours after the blast in Manhattan.

While officials confirmed five people were taken into custody and questioned late Sunday after a traffic stop on the Verrazano Bridge in connection with the bombing, they would not provide details on those individual’s possible relationship to Rahami. She said no one has been charged.

Police in New York City say hundreds of 911 callers have reported suspicious packages since the Saturday night explosion in Manhattan.

The New York Police Department says it is looking for a 28-year-old man for questioning in the New York City bombing.

Peter Bilinskas was standing by his desk at his Linden bowling-supply shop when he heard what sounded like gunfire and saw a man walking down the street with a gun in his hand. REUTERS/Rashid Umar Abbasi New York City firefighters stand near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, U.S. September 17, 2016.

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.

The comments by the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, showed Rahami had been brought to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation before the bombings much like others who have carried out attacks in the United States in recent years.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group, welcomed Rahami’s arrest. The organization and the Afghan Embassy in Washington condemned the bombings.

NY police believe that Rahami is the man shown in security camera videos on Manhattan’s West 23rd St., where on Saturday a bomb exploded, and on West 27th St. where shortly thereafter another unexploded bomb was found. He also added that there were other people in surveillance video captured of Rahami before the explosions. Officials said more than two dozen people were injured. Most of the injuries were minor.

Obama vowed Monday to continue fighting the Islamic State, which he said motivates certain individuals to carry out attacks in the USA and other countries.

Rahami lived with his family on a busy street a few miles from the Newark airport. Authorities said he underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg. MacArthur says it was a stroke of luck that no one was hurt.