Culture

A Suspicious Package Near A New Jersey Train Station Contained Multiple Improvised Explosive Devices

Three new videos — one showing a press conference above and two explosively disturbing ones below — could shine more light on a terrifying set of weekend events. On Saturday night, a dumpster explosion rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and left 29 people injured. In Minnesota, a mall stabbing injured at least eight people and was reportedly claimed by ISIS. And on Saturday in Seaside Park, New Jersey, a pipe-bomb explosion resulted in the cancellation of a Semper Fi 5K race.

Naturally, people wondered if these three events could be connected to a single terrorist source. Investigators are still working on an answer to that question, but now, a late-night Sunday discovery in Elizabeth, New Jersey has set more nerves on edge. In the above video, Mayor J. Christian Bollwage describes how two men discovered a package in a wastebasket near a train station. They saw “wires and a pipe” and called police, who tested the device and found it “could be a bomb.” Soon enough, a drone poked around and revealed that the device could be “a live bomb.” All trains through Elizabeth were shut down, and Bollwage called in a shuttle to alleviate the situation, which he hoped would fully resolve by the Monday morning commute.

However, the solution wasn’t as simple as Bollwage hoped. The FBI soon arrived on the scene and discovered that the package was actually a backpack that contained “multiple improvised explosive devices” (IEDs).

The FBI and New Jersey State Police sent in a robot to further examine the devices and render them safe, but CNN reports how one of the devices detonated in the process. Thankfully, no people were close enough to be injured during this blast, but this video (courtesy of Pix 11’s Anthony DiLorenzo) is nonetheless frightening.

Another vantage point arrives in this video (complete with NSFW language) from Jessica Ramos.

Bollage confirmed what happened: “The robots that went in to disarm it, cut a wire and it exploded. I know there are other devices, I don’t know what they’re made up of, but they’re going to have to be removed.” The Washington Post reports that the situation will not likely be resolved by rush hour. This shut down will affect thousands of commuters.

At this time, a search of other nearby dumpsters and trash cans has turned up no additional devices, and authorities aren’t sure if these IEDs are related to any of the weekend’s incidents. We’ll continue to update the situation if further details develop.

(Via CNN, Washington Post & New York Times)

×