A suspect was taken into custody Monday in the weekend's bloody Manhattan bomb blast after authorities issued a wanted poster, raided an apartment and began to link the blast with another bomb found in the city and others in New Jersey.
Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, a naturalized U.S. citizen of Afghan descent, was taken into custody following a shootout in Linden, N.J. Bollwage said Rahami and at least one officer was wounded. Rahami's last known address was listed in Elizabeth, and federal authorities conducted a raid at an apartment above a fried chicken restaurant in Elizabeth operated by Rahami's father.
The FBI wanted poster, issued hours before the arrest, warned that Rahami "should be considered armed and dangerous."
"This is someone who was likely involved in one way or another" with the explosion Saturday in the Chelsea neighborhood that wounded 29 people, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told CNN's New Day.
The explosion happened in Chelsea, Manhattan, on Saturday. An unexploded pressure-cooker device was also found four blocks away and was being analyzed by the FBI.
Earlier Monday, a device found in a backpack near a train station in New Jersey exploded while a bomb squad robot was trying to disarm it, authorities said.
Christian Bollwage, the mayor of Elizabeth, said that two men found a bag containing five devices in a trash can at about 8:30 p.m. Sunday. The bag had wires and a pipe protruding from it.
Bollwage said the FBI was attempting to disarm one of the devices when it exploded at around 12:30 a.m. Monday. There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage.
“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 with no timers and then you have to wonder how many people could have been hurt,” Bollwage said.
FBI agents and police converged on an apartment near the train station at about 6 a.m. It wasn't immediately clear if the apartment had any connection to the blast.
Bollwage said the FBI was bringing another robot to remove the four remaining devices found in New Jersey, WUNF News reported. "I don't believe the City of Elizabeth at this stage — was a target," he said, according to WUNF.
WANTED: Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, in connection to the Chelsea explosion. Call #800577TIPS with any information. pic.twitter.com/rBDQGfXwbh
— NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) September 19, 2016
NJ Transit services were suspended between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth, and Amtrak trains to New Jersey were being held at New York Penn Station. Amtrak trains heading to New York were held in Trenton early Monday.
Passengers said they were stuck on trains for hours Sunday night. Amtrak said 2,400 passengers were affected.
A pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey, on Saturday, about an hour from the Elizabeth train station. Officials said the two incidents did not appear to be connected, but they weren’t ruling anything out.
Investigators didn’t immediately say whether they thought the Elizabeth incident was connected to the blast in New York.
FBI agents conducted a traffic stop Sunday just off the Verrazano bridge in connection to the New York explosion. As many as five people were detained after the traffic stop, according to ABC News and The New York Post.
#BREAKING video shows moment bomb robot accidentally detonated device found @ Elizabeth NJ train station. @PIX11News pic.twitter.com/xfO97F2ebm
— Anthony DiLorenzo (@ADiLorenzoTV) September 19, 2016
Authorities said Sunday night that surveillance video shows what appears to be the same person moving bombs into place at the site of the New York explosion, and a few blocks north.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that people will see "a very substantial NYPD presence this week — bigger than ever."
The heightened alert comes as world leaders are gathering Monday for the United Nations General Assembly. President Obama is expected to attend the annual meeting Tuesday, the last of his eight-year tenure.