After Shootout, Police Arrest Ahmad Khan Rahami for NY/NJ Bombs
A naturalized US citizen of Afghan descent, Ahmad Khan Rahami, has been arrested in New Jersey after a shootout with police. He was identified on surveillance video placing the bombs in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, and his fingerprints were found on the pressure cooker bomb that did not explode. Ahmad was found apparently passed out in the doorway of a bar.
Congratulations to law enforcement for tracking down and capturing Ahmad before he could commit any more acts of terrorism. As I write this, officials say they have no evidence linking Ahmad to any international terror groups, but of course that could change as the investigation proceeds.
The man believed to be responsible for the explosion in Manhattan on Saturday night and an earlier bombing in New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was taken into custody on Monday after he was wounded in a gunfight with the police, according to law enforcement officials.
The dramatic episode on a rain-soaked street in Linden, N.J., came after the police issued a cellphone alert to millions of residents in the area telling them to be on the lookout for Mr. Rahami, 28, who was described as “armed and dangerous.”
The showdown started at around 10:30 a.m. when a resident spotted Mr. Rahami sleeping in the doorway of a bar, according to officials.
And as usual, Donald Trump wasted no time trying to capitalize on the news to spread fear and xenophobia:
Once again someone we were told is ok turns out to be a terrorist who wants to destroy our country & its people- how did he get thru system?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2016
He’s a naturalized US citizen who came here as a CHILD, you dolt. https://t.co/rkQe2LVRNQ @realDonaldTrump
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) September 19, 2016
Local New York site DNAinfo cites unnamed “sources” that Rahami had a website on which he posted about radical Islam.
It still wasn’t immediately clear why he planted the explosives, but sources said he had posted radical Islamic writings on his personal website.