An explosion that went off in a garbage can Saturday morning in a New Jersey beach town likely was timed to disrupt a Marine Corps charity run.
According to CNN, three pipe-bomb-type devices wired together were found near the boardwalk in Seaside Park. No injuries were reported. The event was canceled by race officials, and a four-block area was evacuated for most of the day.
Only one of the rudimentary devices detonated, and no additional ones were found after bomb detection dogs completed a sweep of the area. Al Della Fave, a spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor's office, said he believes the blast was meant to affect the Seaside Semper Five race.
"If it was just a matter of minutes, in terms of difference, there would have been a good number of people running past that explosive device" because of its location along the race route, Della Fave said. "It is a real shame that that charitable run that does so many great things for the Marines is now canceled. There's no word on when it will be rescheduled, but that's where we're at right now."
Registration problems at the starting line delayed the start of the race, which meant no one was near the garbage can when the explosion happened. "We were lucky," said an official.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force is conducting an investigation in coordination with other federal, state and local officials."We're out there conducting interviews, we're out there securing evidence and we're making sure there is no stone left unturned," said Brad Cohen, acting special agent in charge of the Newark office.
Bomb experts will analyze the device and how it was made, according to CNN senior law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes, who said,
"It could be somebody that has grievance against the US military, possibly the Marine Corps specifically, and have nothing to do with an overseas-inspired attack like ISIS. So it still could be terrorism without being international, without being al Qaeda or ISIS or another affiliated group."
