To get big story, a little ingenuity and speed needed
LINDEN, N.J. — When FBI agents began sprinting for their cars at the start of a press conference about the bomber who terrorized New York and New Jersey, we went running right behind them.
Herald reporter Dan Atkinson and I bolted from outside the First American Fried Chicken eatery in Elizabeth, N.J., just after 11 a.m. yesterday and jumped into our car.
I ran through two red lights and arrived at the shooting scene in less than 10 minutes, just moments after police had shot terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28.
The FBI agents were running down the street with guns drawn and I started shooting pictures. Then I decided to run around the block and approach the scene from the other side. I ran through some backyards and spotted a guy just about to lock his big iron gate.
I asked if I could climb up to his attic to get a better look below and he kindly let me in. Once I got up there I couldn’t see anything. I saw he had a flat roof so I asked if he had a ladder.
He didn’t speak any English, but he pointed to his garage and I got the ladder out and jumped on the roof.
In clear view was Rahami on the ground with police standing over him, their long guns drawn. I clicked off seven to eight frames, and then climbed down and ran around to the other side of the house just as police ordered us to go. I went in the opposite direction of a news conference at the scene. That’s when they wheeled Rahami out past me on a stretcher.
I snapped another seven or eight photos.
Dan was speaking to people who witnessed the shooting the whole time while I was working the scene.
I thought Rahami looked lifeless at first, and I was surprised to see him open his eyes as they pushed him into the ambulance.
I was running around so much I was just telling myself to be careful and not get shot.
I could hear the police yelling at everyone, “Get back! Get back!”
Looking back on the day, we just knew something was up when those FBI guys went running. They were moving and we had to follow them. It all happened so fast but we got it all.