New York – A Pakistan-born U.S. citizen accused of driving a bomb-laden SUV into Times Square and parking it on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theaters was to appear in court Tuesday to face charges that he tried to set off a massive fireball and kill Americans, federal authorities said.
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The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was taken into custody late Monday by FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives at Kennedy Airport while trying to board a flight to Dubai, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials. He was identified by customs agents and stopped before boarding, Holder said early Tuesday in Washington.
Shahzad is a naturalized U.S. citizen and had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he had a wife, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation into the failed car bombing.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan was handling the case and said Shahzad would appear in court Tuesday, but the charges were not made public. FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Conn., early Tuesday, said agent Kimberly Mertz, who wouldn’t answer questions about the search.
Authorities removed filled plastic bags from the house overnight in a mixed-race, working-class neighborhood of multi-family homes in Connecticut’s largest city. A bomb squad came and went without entering as local police and FBI agents gathered in the cordoned-off street.
Shahzad was being held in New York overnight and couldn’t be contacted. A phone number at a listed address for Shahzad in Shelton, Conn., wasn’t in service.
Law enforcement officials say Shahzad bought the SUV, a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder, from a Connecticut man about three weeks ago and paid cash. The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the case.
The vehicle identification number had been removed from the Pathfinder’s dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine, and investigators used it to find the owner of record, who told them he had sold the vehicle to a stranger.
As the SUV buyer came into focus, investigators backed off other leads, although Holder said U.S. authorities “will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice,” suggesting additional suspects are being sought.
The SUV was parked on Saturday night on a busy midtown Manhattan street near a theater showing “The Lion King.” The explosive device inside it had cheap-looking alarm clocks connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks, which were apparently intended to detonate gas cans and set propane tanks afire in a chain reaction “to cause mayhem, to create casualties,” police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
A metal rifle cabinet placed in the SUV’s cargo area was packed with fertilizer, but NYPD bomb experts believe it was not a type volatile enough to explode like the ammonium nitrate grade fertilizer used in previous terrorist bombings.
Police said the SUV bomb could have produced “a significant fireball” and sprayed shrapnel with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows.
Eric Holder’s Press Confrence on Times Square Bomber Arrest Below
A vendor alerted a police officer to the parked SUV, which was smoking. Times Square, clogged with tourists on a warm evening, was shut down for 10 hours. A bomb squad dismantled the explosive device, and no one was hurt.
But Holder said Americans should remain vigilant.
“It’s clear,” he said, “that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans.”
In Pakistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said authorities had not been formally asked for help in the probe.
“When the request comes, we will cooperate with the U.S. government,” he told the AP.
The Pakistani Taliban appeared to claim responsibility in videos that surfaced after the weekend scare, monitoring groups said, but police had no evidence to support the claims.
More than a dozen people with American citizenship or residency, like Shahzad, have been accused in the past two years of supporting or carrying out terrorism attempts on U.S. soil, cases that illustrate the threat of violent extremism from within the U.S.
Among them are Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, a U.S.-born Army psychiatrist of Palestinian descent, charged with fatally shooting 13 people last year at Fort Hood, Texas; Najibullah Zazi, a Denver-area airport shuttle driver who pleaded guilty in February in a plot to bomb New York subways; and a Pennsylvania woman who authorities say became radicalized online as “Jihad Jane” and plotted to kill a Swedish artist whose work offended Muslims.
Maybe with this arrest, all those paranoid fanatics who see Islamic terrorism behind every attempted bombing incident will back off with their nareshkeit. Congrats to the NYPD and feds for quickly solving this matter.
is he just a random person doing random acts???!
num 1 – I cannot tell if your being sarcastic or not. It is islamic terrorisim
Wow! Interesting that they caught him so fast… But wait & see Obama will still say that they should not call him terrorist even though he was recently in Pakistan…
It looks like the facebook photo was taken in Herald Square, right near Times Square.
WAKE UP WORLD B4 IT”S TOO LATE!!! read the writing on the wall “Islam is trying to destroy the entire world even a the cost of suicide”
Can you imagine the busy rush in AG holder’s office to ensure all hie rights are not violated?
Bloomberg said today (probably on obama’s orders)that it might have been a guy angry gov or healthcare reform. This pakistani is probably against health care reform. Huh? Forget abt mohamad on comedy central. Get obama on there.
Wow good job!!!
It’s only 48 hours and we got this idiot.
The govt got a break here, he could have easily left the country earlier before they could trace him down.
Hate to say this- but there are millions of other fish in the sea!
Fact is that he is a terroist. And just think that the FBI had for the last two days a track on him how did they find him at the airport. They wares to wait till the last second. Sounds like the 8th season of 24!
Why all the fuss how obama calls this man when someone is born crazy. Can anyone deny it? Why, because that’s how it is. Now someone that makes bombs is a terrorist no matter what obama calls him
And I was hoping that by today they would have the passport pictures of the 27 people involved caught on CCTV.
Innocent lives spared B’H. this time. NYC is becomming lhavdil like eretz ha kodesh. They will soon start security at shoprite like we hv in Yerushalayim and they will know what it is really like to live under constant arab terror threats that are real.
When will the American authorities ( and the rest of the world ) accept that although not every moslem is a terrorist, every terrorist is a moslem.
The United States Gov haseto.in some way send out a message to the world that when we say Freedom of Speech it does not include bombing out innocent by standers right now I’m scared to get onto any train bus or enjoy myself in public areas America is the land of Freedom why r we allowing that privilage to be taken away from us!
Only a typical Arab egghead would board a flight knowing that his identity is known!
I think we should adapt Arizonas new law and take it a step further.
“Anyone that looks muslim, should be deported to Pakistan!”
Let’s not “Jump to conclusions”.
Mayor M Bloomberg said the other day its prob someone who doesn’t like the healthcare bill or just a nut job.
I like how Bloomberg has kept this city clean and kept crime down with the help of the NYPD but he definitely isn’t street smart what an idiot
1 thing is good about it that if this happens 1 more time obama is out of here. this never happend under the bush adminstration.
Shocking that this could have been a major tragedy but seems to be – just quickly find arrest and put the terrorist away so that people forget as quickly as possible.obama thinks that people will just allow these terrorist activities (fort knox another incident was hushed up)to appear to be run of mill occurrences.Remember where you put your next vote.Security should and must be a number 1 issue.
i’m only surprised teh guy didnt try to fly out already early sunday morning.
wake up big leaders here!!! spend less time chasing your tails over teh wall street issues and protect us from things like this.
the wall street firms are giving ny billions of dollars in taxes from their profits. those billions are paying for our nypd etc.
dont be so fast to condemn them. they are not terrorists.
amazing! who r the other two guys on the plane? did they check the airport for bombs? did they check the plane for bombs?