Video shows bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami in custody in Linden, New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/NrVJCPNAkC
— Eyewitness News (@ABC7NY) September 19, 2016
Mere hours after the authorities named Ahmad Khan Rahami as a suspect in Saturday’s bombing in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, police in Linden, New Jersey, took the 28-year-old U.S. citizen of Afghan descent into custody. NBC New York broke the news late Monday morning, which came to them by way of a “senior law-enforcement official” who chose to remain anonymous. However, media outlets picked up the story and ran it with additional details, including the fact that Rahami’s arrest came after he apparently injured at least one officer in a shootout with police.
In what the New York Times called a “dramatic arrest,” officials were clued to Rahami’s whereabouts following a massive cellphone alert issued to people in the region warning the suspect was “armed and dangerous.” ABC 7, which managed to snap the above photo of Rahami being removed from the scene by emergency medical officials, offered additional details:
Details are just coming in, but law-enforcement sources say Ahmad Khan Rahami was captured following gunfire. He is reportedly alive but wounded, and two police officers were also injured.
The shootout occurred just 10 miles from Elizabeth, New Jersey, where a backpack containing five improvised explosive devices (IEDs) was discovered in a trashcan near a train station. Investigators believe Rahimi left the package there while attempting to flee the area following the bombing in Chelsea on Saturday.
As this is a breaking story and details are still coming in, we will update this post when more concrete information is available.
UPDATE #1 – 11:52am EST: According to CNN, at least two officers were injured in the shootout with Rahimi in Linden, New Jersey. One of the officers was hit in the hand, while the second’s Kevlar vest was struck.
UPDATE #2 – 2:35pm EST CNN’s live report indicates that Rahami has made multiple trips to Afghanistan over the past few years. The New York Times reports that he’s being held on $5.3 million bail.
(Via ABC 7, NBC New York, New York Times and CNN)