Bombing attacks:
Police capture Afghan immigrant wanted in explosions that rocked the New York area.
LINDEN, N.J. — An Afghan immigrant wanted in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town was captured Monday after being wounded in a gunbattle with police that erupted when he was discovered sleeping in a bar doorway, authorities said.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, appeared conscious, his upper right arm bandaged and bloodied, as he was loaded into an ambulance in Linden. Authorities said he underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg.
Two officers were wounded in the shootout but were not believed to be seriously hurt, authorities said.
The arrest came just hours after police issued a bulletin and photo of Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan who lived with his Muslim family in an apartment in Elizabeth, N.J., over a fried-chicken restaurant owned by his father.
“We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said after Rahami’s capture.
On Saturday night, a shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bomb similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack exploded in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, wounding 29 people, none seriously. Another unexploded pressurecooker bomb was found blocks away.
Earlier that day, a pipe bomb blew up in Seaside Park, N.J., before a charity race to benefit Marines. No one was injured.
With Rahami’s arrest, officials said they have no indication there are more bombs or suspects to find, though they cautioned they are still working to understand Rahami’s connections. His motive remains unclear, New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said.
As for how investigators zeroed in on Rahami as a suspect, three law enforcement officials said the clues included a fingerprint lifted from one of the New York sites and “clear as day” surveillance video from the bombing scene that helped identify Rahami. The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Linden Mayor Derek Armstead said the break in the case came Monday morning, when the owner of a bar reported someone asleep in his doorway. A police officer went to investigate and recognized the man as Rahami, police and the mayor said.
Rahami pulled a gun and shot the officer — who was wearing a bulletproof vest — in the torso, and more officers joined in a gunbattle along the street and brought Rahami down, police Capt. James Sarnicki said.
The shootout came after a weekend of fear and dread in the New York area and beyond.
Late Monday, Rahami was charged in New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of police officers in connection with the shootout. Federal prosecutors said they were still weighing charges over the bombings.
Five people were pulled over Sunday night in a vehicle associated with Rahami, but they were questioned and released, Sweeney said, declining to say whether they might face any charges in future.