Police arrest New York City bombing suspect after shootout
Rahami arrested after shootout with police
To some people who lived around his family’s friedchicken restaurant in Elizabeth, N.J., Ahmad Khan Rahami always seemed like a friendly guy — someone who obsessed over fast cars and happily slipped free food to regular customers.
But to others in the community, Rahami and his family came across as insular, serious and a “little mysterious.” Several years ago, Rahami travelled to his homeland, Afghanistan, and when he returned, he showed signs of radicalization, associates said, according to The New York Times.
Three or four years ago, his family stopped wearing Western clothes and started wearing religious garb, observed Andre Almeida, 24, who often ate at the family restaurant called First American Fried Chicken. But, Almeida said, he never saw them display any animosity toward other people.
This was the complicated portrait that emerged Monday of the 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen arrested in connection with weekend explosions that rocked a New York City neighbourhood and a New Jersey shore town — incidents deemed by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio as an “act of terror.”
Late Monday, a hospitalized Rahami was charged in New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of police officers in connection with a shootout and was held on US$5.2-million bail. Federal prosecutors said they were still weighing charges over the bombings.
Rahami was taken into custody Monday morning after a shootout with police in the streets of Linden, N.J. Someone had spotted Rahami sleeping in the doorway of a bar just hours after authorities issued a cellphone alert to millions of residents warning them to be on the lookout for the fugitive.
Capt. James Sarnicki of the Linden Police Department told reporters an officer approached the suspect. When he woke him, he saw he had a beard that resembled that of the man on the wanted poster.
The officer ordered Rahami to show his hands, but instead, the suspect pulled out a handgun and shot at the officer, Sarnicki said. The bullet struck the officer’s vest.
Rahami fled, shooting indiscriminately at passing vehicles, Sarnicki said. Several officers chased him and Rahami was shot several times.
“Man, it was crazy. The only way I could describe it was like a scene in a movie. I was just driving along and shots rang out and I didn’t know what to do,” said witness Mosetta Noregula.
Rahami later underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg.
It was a wild end to a manhunt triggered when a shrapnel-packed pressurecooker bomb — similar to the one used in the Boston Marathon attack — exploded Saturday night in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighbourhood, wounding 29 people, none seriously. Another pressure-cooker bomb was found a few blocks away but did not detonate.
Authorities say Rahami was seen on “clear as day” surveillance video planting those bombs. He was also linked to one of the scenes through fingerprint evidence.
Earlier on Saturday, a pipe bomb blew up in Seaside Park, N.J., before a charity race to benefit marines. No one was injured.
Then on Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth, N.J., train station. One of the devices exploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it. No one was hurt.
Investigators have not publicly tied Rahami to those bombs and said they are still gathering evidence.
It is unknown whether Rahami had any links to an overseas terror organization or was inspired by such organizations.
“We don’t know his particular ideology or what his inspiration was or whether he was directed or whether he was inspired,” a law enforcement official told the New York Times.
Rahami lived with his family in an apartment above the fried chicken shop owned by his father since 2002.
It had been open 24 hours a day, but neighbours complained about rowdy crowds that would gather after midnight. As a result, the city passed an ordinance forcing the restaurant to close early.
Rahami’s father, Mohammad, and two of his brothers sued the city in 2011, alleging they were targeted by neighbours because they are Muslim.
They claimed a man in the neighbourhood told them, ‘You are Muslims’ and ‘Muslims make too much trouble in this country.’ ”
The lawsuit terminated in 2012 after Mohammad Rahami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the restrictions on the restaurant.
One of Rahami’s brothers reportedly once got into a fight with an officer when police came to force the restaurant to close.
“They were angry,” said Marcella Perrotti, who owns a nearby hair salon. While the town of Elizabeth has a tight-knit feel, the Rahamis stayed well outside of it, she said, calling the family “outcasts.”
Neighbour Joshua Sanchez, 24, said he was also struck by the familial insularity inside the chicken restaurant, which he called “the shack.”
“The dad and him would always be together at the shack, just them two,” he told the Times. “They never hired people; it was just the father and the son all the time.”
But others in the neighbourhood said they never saw outward signs of anger. Ryan McCann, 33, recalled that Rahami hung out on the sidewalk with friends.
“He’s a very friendly guy; he gave me free chicken,” McCann told the Times. “He was always the most friendly man you ever met.”