UPDATE: News is breaking that four individuals with a possible connection to the bombing have already been taken into custody on the Belt Parkway underneath the Verrazano Bridge...
A powerful explosion caused by what authorities believe was a homemade bomb injured at least 29 people on a crowded sidewalk in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan on Saturday night. A second explosive device was later found four blocks away and removed.
According to the New York Times, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the explosion “an intentional act” but said it was too soon to determine if it was terrorism. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, however, said, "A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism. A bomb going off is generically a terrorist activity. That's how we'll consider it. And that's how we will prosecute it."
“Whatever the cause,” said de Blasio, “New Yorkers will not be intimidated.” Perhaps not, but many will die unless authorities there, and across the country, start acknowledging the real source of terrorism threatening Americans.
The explosion, which occurred around 8:30 p.m., shattered windows, damaged cars, and sent crowds running from the scene. It prompted the shutdown of a wide swath of Manhattan south of Midtown. Many of the injuries were caused by shrapnel from the explosion, which witnesses said seemed to have come from a sidewalk dumpster on West 23rd Street near the Avenue of Americas.
A law enforcement official said investigators were trying to figure out who was behind the explosion and what the motivations might have been.
“It likely came from an improvised device,” said oneanonymous city official. “We don’t understand the target or the significance of it. It’s by a pile of dumpsters on a random sidewalk.”
Another device found on West 27th Street was described as resembling a pressure cooker like the one used in the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, the official said, adding that the Police Department’s bomb squad was taking the device to a department facility, where robots would inspect it.
The official said investigators “don’t have any suspects” and were not questioning anyone, although video captured before the explosion shows a man crossing “the street in the direction of where the device was found.” Pressed on who might be responsible for the incident, Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill said no suspect was in custody. “We are still in the process of trying to figure that out,” he said.
In Washington, the White House issued a brief statement saying that President Obama had been briefed on the situation.“The president has been apprised of the explosion in New York City, the cause of which remains under investigation,” the statement said. “The president will be updated as additional information becomes available.”
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump weighed in on the news while campaigning in Colorado Springs on Saturday night. “I must tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New York and nobody knows exactly what’s going on,” he said. “But boy, we are living in a time — we better get very tough, folks.”
Very tough indeed.
