The FBI and New York police were trying to find out Sunday who left a Nissan Pathfinder with a crude bomb inside in Times Square Saturday night that prompted the evacuation of parts of the city on a busy Saturday night.
FBI agent Richard Kolko, a spokesman for the FBI in New York, told ticklethewire.com Sunday morning that investigators were sifting through the evidence and following up leads around the country. Authorities said the bomb, comprised of propane, gasoline, fireworks, clocks and wires, could have caused serious damage.
News reports said the device had started to detonate, but there was no explosion.
“We are very lucky,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said at a 2:15 a.m. press conference in Times Square, according to the New York Daily News. “We avoided what could have been a very deadly event.”
He said investigators were checking video cameras around the city, but so far they had not come up with anything showing someone running from the car.
“We had no idea who did this or why,” he said.
The Daily news reported that a large chunk of Midtown — from 43rd Street to 48th Street, and from Sixth to Eighth Avenues — was closed for much of the evening. The smoking car was spotted by a t-shirt street vendor off Broadway on 45th Street, who notified police, the Daily News reported.
The federal government views the incident a “potential terrorist attack,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday, according to the Daily News.
“We’re taking this very seriously,” Napolitano told CNN‘s “State of the Union” program. “We’re treating it as if it could be a potential terrorist attack.”
- Read NY Daily News Story
- Read NY Times Story
- Was Car Bomber Targeting Military Recruiters? (Spy Talk)
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyWKAQG86hM
