Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the leg, and two officers were wounded but were not critically hurt in the shootout that followed a weekend of fear and dread across New York and beyond. 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, New Jersey, over a fried-chicken restaurant owned by his father.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, chief federal prosecutor in New York, said New Jersey officials will probably bring charges against Rahami in the police officers' shooting while federal authorities weigh charges of their own. "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 section, wounding 29 people, none seriously. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away.
Earlier that day, a pipe bomb blew up in Seaside Park, New Jersey, 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 train station. Investigators said they are still gathering evidence and have not publicly tied Rahami to those bombs. 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.
William Sweeney Jr., the FBI's assistant director in New York, said there are no indications Rahami was on law enforcement's radar at the time of the bombings. As for how investigators zeroed in on him 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.
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