(Foreign-born Muslim) Suspect in New York, N.J. bombings taken into custody - shootout with police

[voiceofreason]

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/09/18/chelsea-explosion-investigation-continues/


NYPD Sources: Too Early To Tell If New York City, New Jersey Devices Are Connected
September 18, 2016 5:20 PM

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Despite reports linking the bombings in New York City and New Jersey, NYPD sources told CBS2 it is too early to tell if the devices are connected.

Sources said that there is no video or forensic evidence to support the theory that the same person was responsible for the bombing in Chelsea on Saturday night that injured 29 people and the pipe bombs in Seaside Park, New Jersey.

However, they have not ruled out a possible connection as both devices used cellphones as detonators, but that is common in explosive devices.

A federal official told CBS News they are aware of a page claiming responsibility for the bombing in Chelsea.

Authorities told CBS2 they are investigating but see the claim as an unlikely motive and more of someone just trying to take advantage of the opportunity.

The New York Post originally reported a Tumblr page claimed to be the “NY Bomber.”

“You probably have all seen the news by now, the explosives detonated in New York City, that was me. Those were just some tests, I know where I have made errors and I will not make the same mistake next time,” one of the posts reads.

The Tumblr post said, “I cannot live in a world where homosexuals like myself as well as the rest of the LGBTQ+ community are looked down upon by society.”

“It is 2016 and we are still being viewed as mentally ill, sinners, attention seekers, and just plain weirdos in general. I am not going to stand by while under classed and underprivileged people are oppressed. I am not going to stand by while there is inequality in my country such as the racism being seen in white police officers all over the country. I am not going to live in a country where it is OK to have a misogynist, xenophobic, racist Islamophobic, republican candidate running for President of The United States! That’s implying that republicans in general should even be taken seriously as they are all cisgendered privileged white people,” the post reads.

It concluded, “This is not the end, this is just the beginning. I will be remembered. I will make a difference. I will eliminate my targets before it is too late.”

The official told CBS News the FBI and NYPD are investigating the claim.

The Tumblr page has been taken down.

 

[The Bobster]

Re: NYC Chelsea Blast, 29 Injured; Homosexual Tumblr Page Takes Responsbility

http://nypost.com/2016/09/18/authorities-probe-ties-between-chelsea-bombing-and-nj-blast/

Authorities probe ties between Chelsea bombing and NJ blast
By Larry Celona, Jamie Schram, Tina Moore and Shawn Cohen
September 18, 2016 | 6:31pm

FBI investigate the crime scene where an explosion happened Saturday night in Chelsea, Manhattan. Photo: Gregory P. Mango


Authorities are investigating links between the Chelsea bombing that injured 29 people Saturday and an explosion hours earlier along the route of a planned Marine Corps charity run on the Jersey Shore, The Post has learned.

Old-school mobile flip phones were used as the triggering devices in both blasts. The same type of phone also was attached to an unexploded, pressure-cooker bomb found about four blocks from the scene of Saturday night’s attack in Manhattan, law-enforcement sources said.

Officials suspect that the same person may have planted all three devices — and that the bomber may be behind two since-deleted online messages claiming responsibility for the Manhattan blast, one source said.

The messages were posted on a page titled “I’m the NY Bomber” on the Tumblr social-media Web site and said the motive was a response to anti-gay “violence and oppression.”

“I did it because I cannot stand society. I cannot live in a world where homosexuals like myself as well as the rest of the LGBTQ+ community are looked down upon by society,” one message said.

The writer added: “This is not the end, this is just the beginning.”

In another new wrinkle, a hand-written letter, a portion of which is in Arabic, was found inside a plastic bag that held the second Manhattan device, sources said.

Cops were also interviewing two men who claim to have spotted a potential person of interest in the case, sources said.

The witnesses were dining at the Krush bar and grill on 32nd Street about a half-hour before the 8:30 p.m. Saturday explosion when they saw an Arab-looking man who was carrying a suitcase and appeared out of place, sources said.

The men called 911 around 11 a.m. Sunday to report what they had seen and were brought to Manhattan for questioning, sources said.

Investigators have obtained surveillance video of a person placing the unexploded device, sources said.

It was found by an older woman who was phoned by a friend checking on her in the wake of the explosion, sources said.

The woman went outside her home and noticed the bomb, then called 911.

State police secured the device, and it was taken to the NYPD firing range at Rodman’s Neck for investigation, sources said.

Moments after the Chelsea bombing — which took place around 8:30 p.m. and involved a pressure-cooker packed with BBs and ball bearings — a male 911 caller claimed responsibility and said he was watching the aftermath from the corner of 23rd Street and Seventh Avenue, source said.

“I’m looking at the explosion down the block. There will be more to come,” the caller said, according to sources.

The Jersey Shore blast took place around 9:35 a.m. Saturday when a pipe bomb blew up inside a garbage can in Seaside Park, NJ.

That bomb was built of three separate devices wired together, but only the main component successfully detonated.

Police patrol near the site of an explosion in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
Photo: Getty Images


Thousands of runners were supposed to pass by the blast site during the “Seaside Semper Five” 5-kilometer run, but the start was delayed due to the large size of the field.

The New Jersey bomb contained evidence of a black powder explosive, while the device the blew up in Chelsea had residue from an explosive called Tannerite, a federal law-enforcement official told the Associated Press.

Tannerite is the brand name of a compound created in 1996 for use in exploding targets that “produces a water vapor and a thunderous boom” when shot with a high-power rifle, according to the manufacturer’s Web site.

Initial analysis of the garbage Dumpster that was ripped apart in the blast suggests whatever blew up was placed outside the bin, sources said.

The blast pattern shows the metal is bent inward, and an explosion inside the Dumpster would have bent the metal outward, sources said.

 

[Whitebear]

Re: NYC Chelsea Blast, 29 Injured; Homosexual Tumblr Page Takes Responsbility

Anti-Trump gay rights activist is NOT responsible for the Manhattan bombing say police after blogger claimed to have carried out the attack in response to 'LGBTQ oppression'

Law enforcement discounted the blog posting that claimed responsibilty

A blog said Saturday's explosion was 'lashing out' against 'oppression'

'I am not going to live in a country where it is OK to have a misogynist, xenophobic, racist, Islamophobic, Republican candidate running for President of The United States!' the post said

'This isn't the end. This is just the beginning,' it said. 'I will be remembered. I will make a difference. I will eliminate my targets before it is too late'

The blog also encouraged LGBTQ+ people to give out 'violence and possibly oppression'

 

[The Bobster]

Re: NYC Chelsea Blast, 29 Injured; Homosexual Tumblr Page Takes Responsbility

http://nypost.com/2016/09/19/chelsea-bombing-suspect-is-identified/

Chelsea bombing suspect is identified
By Jamie Schram, Daniel Halper and Yaron Steinbuch
September 19, 2016 | 7:44am | Updated

Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, is wanted for questioning by the FBI in connection with an explosion that occurred on Sept. 17, 2016, at approximately 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 135 W. 23rd St. in New York. Photo: FBI


A 28-year-old man is being sought in connection with the bomb blast that injured 29 people in Chelsea on Saturday night — and authorities are investigating the possible existence of a local terror cell, sources told The Post.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a US citizen from New Jersey who was born in Afghanistan, could be armed and dangerous, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

“We need to get this guy in right away,” de Blasio said on CNN. “My experience is once the FBI zeroes in on someone, they will get them.”

The alarming possibility of a terror cell in New York and New Jersey emerged as the FBI launched a raid in Elizabeth, New Jersey, early Monday — hours after authorities discovered five suspicious devices, one of which blew up near a train station.

It was not immediately clear if the feds — who included members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — found any suspects during the raid on Elmora Avenue.

Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said the raid at an apartment, where a man lives with his son, was related to the incident in Chelsea on Saturday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo now believes there may be a “foreign connection” with the explosion Saturday night in Chelsea.

“I suspect there may be a foreign connection,” Cuomo told CBS News. “That’s what we are hearing today, as the investigation goes on.”

 

[The Bobster]

Re: NYC Chelsea Blast, 29 Injured; Homosexual Tumblr Page Takes Responsbility

http://nypost.com/2016/09/19/fbi-raids-new-jersey-town-after-suspicious-devices-found/

FBI raids New Jersey building near where suspicious devices found
By Fox News
September 19, 2016 | 7:22am

FBI agents raiding an Elizabeth, New Jersey location after last night's backpack pipe bomb explosion a mile away. Photo: Twitter


The FBI launched a raid at a building in Elizabeth, New Jersey Monday morning, local media reported, hours after investigators uncovered five suspicious devices — one of which exploded — near a train station in that city.

Officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were reportedly taking part in the raid. It’s unclear whether they found any possible suspects.

The suspicious devices turned up in a backpack near a train station Sunday night. One exploded when a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it. The discovery came a day after an explosion in Manhattan injured 29 people and an unexploded pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away, although investigators would not say whether the incidents were believed to be linked.

Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said two men called police and reported seeing wires and a pipe coming out of the package after finding it in a trash can around 8:30 p.m.

Media at the scene reported hearing a loud explosion and smelling gunpowder at around 12:40 a.m. Monday after Bollwage said earlier that the Union County bomb squad’s robotic device indicated that the package could’ve been a live bomb. There was no report of injuries following the explosion.

Bollwage said the FBI and state police would decide how to remove the devices.

New Jersey Transit service was suspended early Monday between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth, and New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were being held at New York Penn Station, officials said.

Riders reported being stuck on Amtrak and NJ Transit trains for hours Sunday night, while some trains moved in reverse to let passengers off at other stations.

Also on Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded about an hour from the Elizabeth train station in Seaside Park, New Jersey, forcing the cancellation of a military charity 5K run. Officials said it didn’t appear that those two incidents were connected, though they weren’t ruling anything out.

 

[The Bobster]

Re: NYC Chelsea Blast, 29 Injured; Homosexual Tumblr Page Takes Responsbility

http://nypost.com/2016/09/18/fbi-detains-5-in-connection-to-chelsea-bombing/

FBI detains 5 in connection to Chelsea bombing
By Larry Celona
September 18, 2016 | 11:09pm

FBI agents arrested five men who may be connected to Saturday’s bombing in Chelsea after stopping their car in Brooklyn, sources said.

The men were heading over the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island when they were stopped Sunday night.

Sources said the FBI suspected the men may have had a role in the bombing and were questioning them at the FBI headquarters in Manhattan.

It is believed the men, who live in New Jersey, were heading to the airport when they were busted.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Transit says service on the Northeast Corridor line has been suspended between Newark and Elizabeth because of police activity near Elizabeth.

A source said that at least one explosive device was found at the train station in Elizabeth.

Sunday’s bombing in New York left 29 injured when a small bomb went off on West 23rd Street. Another device was found on 27th street, but it did not explode.

Also, officials were investigating if the two New York bombs were connected to a bomb that went off at a charity road race in Seaside Park, NJ, that occurred on the same day.

 

[voiceofreason]

Re: Same Naturalized Afghanistan Believed Involved In NYC, NJ Blast

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/investiga...ance-Video-Chelsea-Bomb-Blast--393911431.html

NY, NJ Bombing Suspect Rahami in Custody After Shootout

Ahmad Rahami a 28-year-old naturalized Afghanistan citizen was taken into custody by police in Linden, New Jersey, a senior law enforcement official said.

THIS STORY IS DEVELOPING. PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES.

 

[voiceofreason]

Re: Same Naturalized Afghanistan Believed Involved In NYC, NJ Blast

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/09/19/chelsea-blast-suspect/


Suspect In Chelsea, Seaside Park Explosions In Custody, Linden Police Say
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, Was Wanted For Questioning In Both Incidents September 19, 2016 11:30 AM

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A man being sought in connection with explosions in Seaside Park, New Jersey and Chelsea is believed to have been taken into custody following a shootout, Linden police said.

The arrest came just hours after the FBI, NYPD and New Jersey State Police issued bulletins and photos of Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan with an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Linden police said they found Rahami after officers responded to a call of a man sleeping in a hallway of a local business.

When an officer approached the man, he raised his head and that’s when the officer recognized him as Rahami, Capt. James Sarnicki with Linden police told CBS2.

“The suspect pulled out a gun and fired at the officer and striking him in the abdomen,” Sarnicki said. “The gentlemen got up and started walking down the street in a westerly direction. I’m told that he was randomly discharging his handgun and one of the officers was able to get close enough to him and return fire.”

Sarnicki said Rahami was shot several times. The suspect is said to be alert and OK, but his condition is not known. The captain said the suspect was still on the scene and that the FBI was responding.

The officer who was shot was wearing a protective vest and was not seriously hurt. Another officer may have been hurt in the face and a third was suffering from high blood pressure, Sarnicki said.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/national-international/Who-is-Ahmad-Khan-Rahami-393971171.html

Who Is Ahmad Khan Rahami? What We Know
This is what we know about the suspect in the NJ and NY bombings
(Published 6 hours ago)

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a suspect in the bombings in New York City and a shore town in New Jersey, immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan and lives in New Jersey, where his father owns a fried chicken restaurant.

Rahami was wounded during a shootout with police in Linden, New Jersey, Monday morning after he was found sleeping in the doorway of a bar, according to authorities. Two police officers were also wounded.

"We have every reason to believe this was an act of terror," New York City Bill de Blasio said.

Rahami, 28, is a U.S. citizen whose family opened First American Fried Chicken in 2002 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The restaurant was searched by authorities Monday morning. The family came to the United States in 1995 as asylum seekers.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/19/chelsea-bomb-suspect-found-religion-after-trip-to-afghanistan/

Chelsea bomb suspect found religion after trip to Afghanistan
By Reuven Fenton, Jamie Schram, Sophia Rosenbaum and Danika Fears
September 19, 2016 | 3:48pm

The Chelsea bombing suspect is an Afghan native who studied criminal justice and liked fast cars — and friends said he became deeply religious after returning from a trip home two years ago.

“He came back, popped up out of nowhere and he was real religious,” friend Flee Jones, 27, told the Boston Herald of 28-year-old suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami. “And it was shocking. I’m trying to understand what’s going on. I’ve never seen him like this.”

Terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami after being taken into custody
Photo: Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com


Rahami traveled to Afghanistan multiple times in past years, according to CNN. He’d also been posting radical Islamic writings on a personal website, sources told DNAInfo.

Rahami, who’s suspected of setting off explosions in Manhattan and New Jersey that left 29 wounded, worked at his family’s restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

But he was the “black sheep” of his family and didn’t get along with his dad, his sister told FBI investigators.

“The sister is shocked. She can’t believe what he’s done,” a source said.

Rahami has been arrested on domestic violence charges for allegedly attempting to stab his sister, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) told CNN.

Law enforcement sources said he spent a little over two months behind bars at Union County jail on a weapons and aggravated assault charge in 2014.

Rahami graduated from Edison High School in 2007 and attended Middlesex Community College between 2010 and 2012. He was a criminal justice major until he dropped out.

Customers at his family’s restaurant described Rahami as a seemingly friendly person with a car obsession.

“All this guy ever talks about is his cars,” said Ryan McCann, 33. “He loves fixing cars up and making them fast. All I ever heard him talk about was Honda Civics, Honda Accords, maybe an Acura. He would soup them up.”

When business was slow, Rahami would often pull out his Koran and play Middle Eastern music, said customer Brayant Ocampo, 17.

“One day I asked him about it and he said it’s like a Bible for our religion,” Ocampo recalled. “He was into his religion.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/19/chelsea-bomb-suspect-charged-with-attempted-murder/

Chelsea bomb suspect charged with attempted murder for shootout with cops
By Associated Press
September 19, 2016 | 6:45pm

Terror suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami after being taken into custody
Photo: Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com


The Afghan immigrant arrested in the bombings that rocked a New York City neighborhood and a New Jersey shore town is now facing attempted murder charges over his dramatic capture.

Ahmad Khan Rahami was wounded in a gun battle with Linden, New Jersey, police that erupted when he was discovered sleeping in a bar doorway.

He was charged in Union County with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer. He was being held on $5.2 million bail and remained at a hospital.

It wasn’t known if Rahami had an attorney. Messages left with phone numbers listed for family members weren’t returned.

Federal charges in the bombings have yet to be filed.

Authorities say two Linden officers were wounded trying to arrest Rahami. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/20/chelsea-bombing-suspects-wife-left-us-days-before-attack/

Chelsea bombing suspect’s wife left US days before attack
By Jamie Schram, Tina Moore and Yaron Steinbuch
September 20, 2016 | 8:54am

The wife of the Afghan immigrant suspected in the New York and New Jersey bombings left the US for Pakistan just a few days before the attacks, according to reports.

The woman, who has not been named, has been intercepted by authorities in the United Arab Emirates, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Officials are working with authorities in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates to question her about what she knew about her husband’s plans, a law enforcement source told CNN.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a naturalized US citizen, made at least three months-long trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan since 2014, officials said.

He stayed in Pakistan for a year between April 2013 and March 2014, spending time in a Taliban stronghold, CNN reported.

Rahami has clammed up and is refusing to cooperate with authorities, a source told The Post.

“We are looking into who may have helped him in training, with money” and with other means, the source said. “His family is being looked at, too.”

FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said there was “no indication” of an active terror cell in the New York area — but evidence suggests Rahami was not acting alone, sources told CNN.

“They’re going to look at friends, family, go through all of his records and social media, his phones and we’ll see if he acted alone,” New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill said Tuesday morning on CBS’ “This Morning.”

Authorities identified Rahami through a fingerprint lifted from an unexploded bomb and tracked him down to Linden, New Jersey, where cops exchanged gunfire with the suspect Monday morning.

Two officers suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shootout, in which Rahami also was injured.

“I think it’s a good sign that we found him in a doorway… hopefully that means he had nowhere to go so that’s a pretty good sign,” O’Neill said about Rahami, who was found snoozing outside Merdie’s Tavern in Linden.

Rahami – who was charged with five counts of attempted murder — was listed in critical but stable condition after being shot in the leg, O’Neill said.

“Medically, I think there are some issues. But we will get a chance to talk to him,” he said.

O’Neill said the bombing had all the hallmarks of “an act of terror.”

“I went to the scene on Saturday night after I got the phone call from one of my sergeants and the devastation was tremendous,” he told CBS. “You get a call to come down to the scene. You go down there and don’t know what to expect… I think we’re really lucky that only 29 people received not-serious injuries.”

The top cop said authorities are looking into how the pressure-cooker bombs – containing the highly explosive and unstable compound HMTD – were constructed.

“I don’t want to go into the level of sophistication,” he added. “There’s a lot of forensic evidence that we found.”

Rep. Albio Sires (Cane-cutter-NJ) said Monday that Rahami contacted his office from Pakistan in 2014 seeking help because his pregnant wife had an expired Pakistani passport.

“He wanted his wife to come from Pakistan,” Sires told MSNBC. “At the time she was pregnant and in Pakistan. They told her that she could not come over until she had the baby, because she had to get a visa for the baby.”

Sires said his office wrote a letter to the US Embassy in Pakistan to check on the status of the case and the woman received a visa. She was eventually allowed to enter the US.

Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo reacted Tuesday morning to Donald Trump’s complaints about Rahami’s medical care. The Republican said sarcastically during a campaign rally in Florida that “we will give him amazing hospitalization.”

“This is what makes us who we are, that’s what makes us special and if you give that up … then you have defeated yourself,” Cuomo told CNN. “That is the code of democracy and freedom. That is what they resent about us. So don’t lose your soul in the process — that is the soul of America.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/19/chelsea-bomb-suspect-found-religion-after-trip-to-afghanistan/

Bombing suspect is a US-hating homophobe: baby mama
By Reuven Fenton, Jamie Schram, Sophia Rosenbaum and Danika Fears
September 19, 2016 | 3:48pm

The Afghan immigrant suspected of planting bombs in Chelsea and New Jersey was a deadbeat dad who raged against gays, the military and American culture, his high school sweetheart revealed on Monday.

“He would speak often of Western culture and how it was different back home,” Maria told FoxNews.com of bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, the father of her child. “How there weren’t homosexuals in Afghanistan.

“One time, he was watching TV with my daughter and a woman in a [military] uniform came on and he told her, ‘That’s the bad person,’” she recalled.

Maria, who believes Rahami was “brainwashed,” said he brought back a wife and another kid when he came back from a trip to Afghanistan nine years ago.

The 28-year-old terror suspect is a naturalized US citizen whose family was granted asylum in 2011.

Rahami made numerous trips to terror hotbeds Afghanistan and Pakistan in the last 10 years, according to Rep. Peter King (R-NY).

He became noticeably devout after returning from a visit to his homeland two years ago, friends and law enforcement sources said.

“He had changed. He dressed differently, more religiously, the robe and everything,” Flee Jones, 27, a childhood pal of Rahami, told The Post.

“I really never expected it from him. He was always this fun-loving guy, but now he was all quiet. He had found religion. It’s mind-blowing.”

He’s also posted radical Islamic writings on a personal website, sources told DNAInfo.

Despite the red flags, Rahami wasn’t on any terror watch lists before he became the prime suspect in bombings in New York City and Seaside Park, NJ, including one that wounded 29 people when a device exploded in Chelsea, officials said. The New Jersey bombing targeted a military charity run.

He’s also believed to be behind pipe bombs that were found atop a garbage can near a train station in Elizabeth, NJ.

A massive manhunt for Rahami came to a swift end late Monday morning when he was found sleeping in the doorway of Merdie’s Tavern in Linden, NJ.

When cops confronted him, he pulled out a gun and fired multiple times, striking two cops before he was taken down in the shootout.

Rahami was found not far from his home in Elizabeth, NJ, where he worked at his family’s popular restaurant — First American Fried Chicken.

When business was slow, he would often pull out his Koran and play Middle Eastern music, said customer Brayant Ocampo, 17.

“One day I asked him about it and he said it’s like a Bible for our religion,” Ocampo recalled. “He was into his religion.”

Despite going into the family business, Rahami was the “black sheep” of his clan — and didn’t get along well with his dad, his sister told FBI investigators.

“The sister is shocked. She can’t believe what he’s done,” a law enforcement source said.

Rahami’s relationship with his family was so rocky that in 2014, he was arrested on assault charges for allegedly attempting to stab his sister, King said.

She later dropped the charges, but he spent over two months behind bars in Union County Jail, law enforcement sources said.

He also violated a restraining order in 2012 and spent a day in jail, according to sources.

The Rahami family first sought asylum in the US in 1995 when Ahmad was 7 years old — and they opened the fried chicken restaurant in 2002, NBC New reported.

He graduated from Edison High School in 2008 and attended Middlesex Community College, where he was a criminal justice major , between 2010 and 2012, when he dropped out.

The family struggled with money, and in 2005, Ahmad’s father, Mohammad Rahami, filed for bankruptcy, citing $38,609 in debt, records show.

Mohammad claimed on Monday that he had “no idea” about his son’s bomb plots, NBC News reported.

“My heart is very, very…,” he said before trailing off.

His sister, Zobyedh Rahami, posted on Facebook: “I would like people to respect my family’s privacy and let us have our peace after this tragic time.”

Regulars at First American Fried Chicken were shocked by Ahmad Rahami’s arrest, describing him as a friendly guy who would sometimes give out free food to cash-strapped customers.

He also has a fascination with cars — fast ones, several people said.

“All this guy ever talks about is his cars,” said Ryan McCann, 33. “He loves fixing cars up and making them fast. All I ever heard him talk about was Honda Civics, Honda Accords, maybe an Acura. He would soup them up.”

A construction worker who lives next to the fried chicken restaurant described the Rahami family as fiercely private.

“They didn’t really talk to anybody,” said Miguel, 41, who declined to give his last name.

He said Ahmad Rahami and a couple of other restaurant workers stopped talking to him entirely when his Israeli heritage came up during a conversation three years ago.

“The first thing I did after I talked to them is I went to check my car underneath … I went to check for a bomb,” he said.

Former Marine Johnathan Wagner, 26, said Mohammad Rahami once showed him a photo from his days as a mujahedeen fighter in Afghanistan in the ’90s.

“He fought off the Russians,” Wagner said.

“Ahmad as a person never talked about anything personal,” he added. “He would ask, ‘How is your family doing? Do you need some money?’ He seemed normal.”

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/20/i-called-the-fbi-2-years-ago-chelsea-bombing-suspects-dad/

‘I called the FBI 2 years ago!’: Chelsea bombing suspect’s dad
By Kevin Sheehan and Yaron Steinbuch
September 20, 2016 | 10:52am

Mohammad Rahami, father of Chelsea bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami Photo: Stefan Jeremiah


The father of bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami said Tuesday morning that he had called the FBI on his son.

After closing his New Jersey fried chicken restaurant, Mohammad Rahami was asked by reporters whether he had called the feds on his son.

“Yes, I called the FBI,” he said as he drove off in his Chevy Suburban after speaking with FBI agents in Elizabeth, where he lives above his First American Fried Chicken joint.

He also said he didn’t think his son is a terrorist. Asked why, he said: “Because the FBI — they know that.”

The cryptic response followed one he made earlier, when he yelled, “I called the FBI two years ago!”

The father also said, “I have a connection with this guy,” but wouldn’t respond to questions about whom he was talking about.

A day earlier, the elder Rahami said he had “no idea” about his son’s alleged bomb plots in New York and New Jersey.

“My heart is very, very…,” he said before trailing off.

Asked if he been aware of what his son was up to, he told NBC News: “No idea.”

“I’m not sure what’s going on exactly,” he added Monday. “Yeah, I’m not sure what’s happening exactly. But I think so. It’s very hard right now to talk, OK?”

A neighbor and former Marine who served in Afghanistan told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that “the father used to be a mujahedeen in Afghanistan.”

“He is from the same city where I was deployed as a Marine,” Jonathan Wagner told Haaretz, adding that the father used to say the Taliban were ruining Afghanistan.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/22/chelsea-bomb-suspects-blood-soaked-diary-hails-isis/

Chelsea bomb suspect’s blood-soaked diary full of ISIS praise
By Chris Perez
September 22, 2016 | 1:00am

U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul presents a page from a bloody journali belonging to Ahmad Khan Rahami. Photo: Homeland Security


This is the blood-soaked journal of Chelsea bomb suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami — who praised ISIS in rambling, often illegible rants made public Wednesday.

The image was shown at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing in Washington, in which Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) read several excerpts from the book and revealed how the Afghan native drew inspiration from deceased Islamic State spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani.

Rahami, 28, wrote that his guidance *ultimately came from Adnani — who was one of the most prominent ISIS leaders before he was killed in Syria by an American airstrike last month.

He also cited comments Adnani made about Muslims in Western countries committing terrorist acts at home, rather than traveling to Syria.

“Guidance come Sheikh Anwar Brother Adnani Dawla. Said it clearly attack The Kuffar [nonbelievers] in their back yard,” Rahami wrote.

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...k-Hospital-Injury-Gun-Shootout-394431681.html

Alleged NYC, NJ Bomber More Wounded Than Initially Thought
Ahmad Rahami is still expected to survive, law enforcement officials say
By Pete Williams and Jonathan Dienst
Published 5 minutes ago

Alleged bomber Ahmad Rahami was more seriously injured in the shootout with police than initially reported, law enforcement officials say.

Officials say Rahami, the 28-year-old naturalized citizen from Afghanistan, was shot at least 11 times in Monday's confrontation with Linden police that led to his capture. At least one bullet narrowly missed vital organs, officials said.

Rahami is sedated and intubated at a hospital in New Jersey, where he is being held on state charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer. He also faces federal terror-related charges, but will not be arraigned on those until he is transported to New York. Despite new reports of more serious injuries, officials say Rahami is still expected to survive.

On Wednesday, authorities released an image of Rahami's blood-stained journal, a bullet hole piercing the small booklet that was found in the alleged bomber's possession when he was captured after the shootout. The journal paints a chilling picture of a man rife with anti-U.S. sentiment who praised leaders of terror groups and wanted to make a martyr of himself.

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a suspect in the bombings in New York City and a shore town in New Jersey, immigrated to the United States from Afghanistan and lives in New Jersey, where his father owns a fried chicken restaurant. News 4's Brian Thompson reports. (Published Monday, Sept. 19, 2016)

Authorities have said Rahami had a gun and extra ammunition on him when police encountered him sleeping in the doorway of a bar in Linden Monday. Federal officials said Thursday the weapon was bought in Virginia. They say Rahami has a younger brother in the Roanoke area and bought the gun during a visit.

The federal complaint filed against Rahami in lower Manhattan court this week charges him with the use of weapons of mass destruction and bombing a place of public use, among other crimes. He allegedly planted the pressure cooker device that blew up on 23rd Street in Chelsea Saturday, injuring 31 people, and another device that exploded in a trash bin along a Marine 5K race route in New Jersey hours earlier. Officials allege Rahami is behind the cluster of pipe bombs found near a commuter rail station in his hometown of Elizabeth, N.J., late Sunday, and an unexploded pressure cooker on 27th Street, blocks from the blast site that rocked the city on a warm summer night.

Surveillance video captures Rahami at both Manhattan scenes, officials have said. One video exclusively obtained by NBC 4 New York shows him wheeling a piece of luggage to the 27th Street site, presumably with the bomb inside. The pressure cooker on 27th Street had 12 of Rahami's fingerprints on it, according to law enforcement officials, but other fingerprints were on the device as well. That's one reason the FBI and NYPD want to find the two men who walked away with the luggage the bomb had been in, leaving the device behind.

Officials want to see if any of the additional fingerprints on the device belonged to either or both of the men; they also want to recover the luggage. Authorities released a photo of the men Wednesday. They said they are being considered witnesses in the case.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/25/chelsea-bombing-suspect-spent-weeks-at-islamist-seminary-in-pakistan/

Chelsea bombing suspect spent weeks at Islamist seminary in Pakistan
By Kathianne Boniello
September 25, 2016 | 1:34am

The alleged New Jersey terrorist charged with trying to blow up Chelsea last weekend with homemade bombs spent weeks getting an “Islamic education” at a Pakistani seminary, according to a report.

Ahman Khan Rahami spent three weeks in Kuchlak, an area described as a longtime “hub” for the Taliban, in 2011, a security official inside the country told the Guardian.

Rahami, 28, attended lectures at the Kaan Kuwa Naqshbandi madrasa.

US authorities have been tight-lipped with details of Rahami’s trips to Pakistan, acknowledging he was married during a visit to Quetta.

Security agencies inside Pakistan have tried to “hide all details” of his visits to Quetta, one anonymous official told the Guardian.

Rahami also visited Surkhab and Nushki, where a US drone killed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor in May.  

 

[The Bobster]

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...-Representing-Bombing-Suspect--394855471.html

ACLJu Representing NY, NJ Bombing Suspect
Federal judges last week denied requests by public defenders to be appointed to represent Rahami, agreeing with prosecutors' arguments that he had not officially been arrested by federal authorities
Published 3 hours ago

The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday began representing a man accused of setting off bombs in New York and New Jersey and injuring more than 30 people.

After judges in both states denied attempts by public defenders to represent Ahmed Khan Rahami, a lawyer for the organization's New Jersey chapter entered a notice of appearance in his case in federal court in Newark on Monday.

Rahami has been hospitalized since he was caught following a shootout with police in Linden last week. He has not made an initial court appearance.

Prosecutors said in a filing last week that he had been incapacitated and intubated since undergoing surgery for his wounds. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office did not have an updated condition available on Monday.

Rahami's family spoke with his doctors on Monday for the first time after numerous requests since the ACLU got involved, said Udi Ofer, the New Jersey chapter's executive director. Ofer didn't disclose Rahami's condition, but ACLU attorney Alexander Shalom said law enforcement officials have informed the ACLU he remains unconscious.

Federal judges last week denied requests by public defenders to be appointed to represent Rahami, agreeing with prosecutors' arguments that he had not officially been arrested by federal authorities.

Shalom said in a filing that Rahami's father and wife requested the ACLU represent him until he is appointed a federal public defender or other lawyer.

Ofer said denying Rahami's right to a lawyer "violates the Constitution and needlessly sacrifices civil liberties in the name of national security."

"It is outrageous that Mr. Rahami has been in custody for a week yet has been denied the right to have an attorney visit him to confirm his condition and protect his constitutional rights," Ofer said.

Rahami, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, has been accused of detonating a pipe bomb in a New Jersey shore town and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the Jersey blast, and 31 people were injured in the New York blast. A second pressure cooker bomb didn't explode.

Rahami was charged by federal prosecutors in both states and faces state charges in New Jersey in connection with the shootout. Two officers involved in the shootout were treated for minor injuries.

The charges against Rahami include federal terror crimes and state charges of attempting to murder police officers.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/09/28/accused-chelsea-bomber-had-violent-conflicts-with-sister-brother/

Accused Chelsea bomber had violent conflicts with sister, brother
By Associated Press
September 28, 2016 | 2:01am

The sister of the man charged with setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York and injuring more than 30 people this month told police in August 2014 that he was getting ready to hit her with a dumbbell and stabbed another brother in the leg when he jumped in to help her, police reports show.

Zobydha Rahami told investigators Ahmad Khan Rahami attacked her in their family’s home in Elizabeth. She said an ensuing fight between Ahmad and two of his brothers led to Ahmad stabbing brother Nasim in the leg.

Ahmad Rahami, an Afghan-born US citizen , spent a month in jail before his sister and brother told investigators they didn’t want to pursue charges.

Rahami has been accused of detonating a pipe bomb in Seaside Park, NJ, and a pressure-cooker bomb in Chelsea on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the Jersey blast, and 31 people were injured in the New York blast.

 

[The Bobster]

http://nypost.com/2016/10/12/chelsea-bomb-suspect-to-be-arraigned-from-hospital-bed/

Chelsea bomb suspect to be arraigned from hospital bed
By Associated Press
October 12, 2016 | 5:47pm

Ahmad Khan Rahami is wheeled away on a stretcher after exchanging gunfire with police officers. Photo: AP


ELIZABETH, N.J. — A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York, injuring more than 30 people, is due to be arraigned on charges he tried to kill police officers before they captured him.

Ahmad Khan Rahami’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Elizabeth, the Union County prosecutor’s office said. He’s due to take part via video from his hospital bed.

Rahami, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen, has been hospitalized with gunshot wounds after a police shootout that led to his capture on Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden. Authorities have declined to provide details on Rahami’s medical condition, citing privacy laws.

Rahami is charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer and weapons offenses.

Rahami, 28, is accused of detonating a pipe bomb along the route of a Marine Corps charity race in the New Jersey shore town of Seaside Park and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17. No one was injured in the New Jersey blast, and 31 people were injured in the New York blast. A second pressure cooker bomb didn’t explode.

Rahami’s public defenders have a policy of not commenting on cases.

It’s unclear when Rahami will make a court appearance on the federal terrorism-related charges he faces in connection with the bombings. He’ll have to be transported to New York for arraignment on those charges.

The American Civil Liberties Union is representing Rahami on the federal charges.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.