By Jamie Schram, Reuven Fenton & Yaron Steinbuch, New York Post–
A 28-year-old Afghan native hunted in connection with blasts in Manhattan and New Jersey was caught Monday after shooting two police officers in Linden, New Jersey, according to reports.
Ahmad Khan Rahami of Elizabeth — who was injured in the shootout — was arrested after striking one cop in the hand and another in the vest, NJ.com reported.
Images from the scene show a bloodied Rahami, with a blank expression, being carried off by medical responders after he was sprawled on a sidewalk.
Two witnesses described coming across Rahami, who they thought was a homeless bum before all hell broke loose.
Jack Mazza, 55, a mechanic who works nearby, said he and a pal, Harry, were walking past Merdie’s Tavern when they saw a man in a hoodie snoozing in a vestibule.
“Harry said, ‘That’s the guy! That’s the guy that planted the bomb.’ I said, ‘No it’s not, you can’t even see his face. How do you know?’ Because he had a hoodie on. I bent down and looked at him and said, ‘I don’t know. Call the cops if you think it’s him,’” Mazza said.
“A few minutes later the cops showed up and the guy pulled out a gun and started shooting through the glass at them,” he said. “Then he ran out and took off down Elizabeth Avenue. The cops were chasing him and he was shooting while he was running. I guess he was trying to shoot the cops but he was hitting passing cars. It’s a miracle nobody got hurt. He could have hit us. He could have hit anyone.”
Rahami — whose fingerprint was found on an unexploded device — was wanted in connection with the explosion in Chelsea that left 29 wounded and other incidents in the two states that sparked fears of a local terror cell, according to federal officials.
Earlier Monday, FBI agents and members of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stormed an apartment where Rahami lives above the family’s restaurant — First American Fried Chicken — on Elmora Avenue.
The raid came after one of five devices found in a backpack at the nearby train stationexploded while a bomb squad robot tried to disarm it. No one was injured.
Authorities have evidence that Rahami also was connected to an unexploded device on West 27th Street and a blast Saturday morning in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, ahead of a race for Marines and sailors, a source told The Post.
Authorities also were able to identify the suspect with the help of a cellphone left behind with a pressure cooker found on 27th Street — blocks away from the explosion on West 23rd Street, a source told ABC News.
A law enforcement official told the New York Times there was no direct evidence yet linking Rahami to ISIS or al Qaeda.
“We don’t know his particular ideology or what his inspiration was or whether he was directed or whether he was inspired,” the official said. “We don’t have any of that.
“So, the ideology, the connection to international terrorism, we might flesh that out as we go through the results of search warrants, looking for computers, discs, things like this. Search warrants that we did Sunday night at the residence in Elizabeth,” the official added.
“Here’s a guy who has been involved in what appears to be four bombings in rapid succession in recent days in crowded places,” the official said. “So we need to get him.”
Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said at a press conference that Rahami’s father, Muhammad, opened the 24-hour-a-day eatery about 10 years ago and employed his sons.
Neighbors complained about the restaurant, which attracted noisy crowds of customers — some of whom urinated on people’s properties.
The city council voted to shut it down by 10 p.m., but neighbors said the Rahamis ignored the directive and sued the mayor, the city and about 20 cops, claiming ethnic and racial discrimination.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it was too early to say if Rahami has ties to international terrorism.
“I said yesterday I believe it was an act of terrorism,” he said at a press conference at Penn Station. “By definition, terrorism (is) taking an action on human lives.”
He said no group has taken responsibility for the incidents and that there was “no hint of foreign terrorism.”
Earlier in the day, he said there may be a foreign link to 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.”
President Obama, who is in the Big Apple for the annual UN General Assembly gathering, praised federal and local law enforcement authorities for their efforts — stressing that the US will continue to lead the way in the fight against ISIS.
The president also said investigators see no connection to the stabbings in Minnesota.
The man who allegedly stabbed nine people at a St. Coud mall before being shot dead by an off-duty cop has been identified as Dahir A. Adan, 22, CNN reported. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ryan McCann, 33, said Rahami has been working behind the counter at his father’s eatery for about five years.
“He’s a very friendly guy, very Americanized. You would never expect anything like this. It’s terrifying because he’s been hiding in plain sight,” McCann told The Post.
Speaking at a press conference, Elizabeth’s mayor said that “you have to wonder how many people could have been hurt.”
“I’m extremely concerned for the residents of the community, but more importantly extremely concerned for everyone in the state and country where someone can just go and drop a backpack into a garbage can that has multiple explosives in it,” Bollwage said.
The unexploded pressure cooker, which was found on West 27th Street and defused safely after the blast on West 23rd Street, was sent to the FBI in Virginia for forensic examination.
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 bureau headquarters in Manhattan.
It is believed the men, who live in New Jersey, were heading to the airport when they were busted.
The Chelsea bomb contained a residue of Tannerite, an explosive often used for target practice that can be picked up in many sporting goods stores, a federal official said Sunday.
Cellphones were discovered at the site of the bombings, but no Tannerite residue was identified in the New Jersey bomb remnants, in which a black powder was detected, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to comment on an ongoing investigation and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Also on Sunday, FBI agents searched an Uber driver’s vehicle that had been badly damaged in the Chelsea blast after the driver picked up three passengers.
In other developments, New Jersey Transit train service resumed service on the Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line at 5:30 a.m. Monday, but they faced residual delays because service was suspended after the explosive devices were found, the AP reported.
Amtrak was operating on a modified schedule.
Train passengers 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.
Daniel Halper contributed reporting
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