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Ahmad Khan Rahami: 6 Things to Know About Bombing Suspect

Ahmad Khan Rahami: 6 Things to Know About Bombing Suspect

(FBI.gov)

By    |   Monday, 19 September 2016 10:53 AM EDT

Ahmad Khan Rahami has been identified by the FBI as a suspect in the New York City bombing that injured 29 people over the weekend, and now his name is being linked to a pair of other incidents in the area.

An explosion in the Chelsea section of Manhattan scattered shrapnel and other debris all over Saturday night, and another device made with a pressure cooker was discovered nearby. Earlier that day, a pipe bomb partially detonated in a trash can in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity Marine Corps. run and, on Sunday, a backpack filled with explosives was found near a New Jersey Transit train station in Elizabeth. 

No one was injured in the two New Jersey incidents.

It's not yet clear whether Rahami, who was reportedly captured by police Monday, has ties to international terrorist organizations.

“We don’t know his particular ideology or what his inspiration was or whether he was directed or whether he was inspired,” a law enforcement official told The New York Times. “We don’t have any of that.”

“We have a lot to connect him to the Seaside Heights device, to the 27th Street device, to the 23rd Street device,” the official said. “And in all likelihood the Elizabeth train station device — which is a half-mile from his residence. So, the ideology, the connection to international terrorism, we might flesh that out as we go through the results of search warrants, looking for computers, discs, things like this. Search warrants that we did Sunday night at the residence in Elizabeth.”

Authorities are urging anyone with information on Rahmani, 28, to call 1-800-225-5324. He is considered armed and dangerous, according to the FBI.

Here are six things to know about Rahami.

1. His residence — Rahami's last known address, according to the FBI, is Elizabeth, New Jersey, where five devices were found in the backpack near a train station Sunday night, according to NJ.com. One of those bombs detonated while an FBI bomb squad robot attempted to defuse it Monday morning, delaying rail traffic in the area.

2. Caught on tapeSenior law enforcement sources told CNBC that Rahami was identified on surveillance video on 23rd Street and 27th Street in Manhattan near the Chelsea bombings. That blast hurt 29 people, but all of them have since been released from area hospitals.

3. Naturalized — Rahami was born in Afghanistan on Jan. 23, 1988, but is a naturalized American citizen, according to the FBI.

4. Description — Rahami is described by the FBI as 5-foot-6-inches tall, weighing about 200 pounds with brown hair, brown eyes, and brown facial hair.

5. Family and work — On Monday morning, FBI agents started searching an address in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the Rahami family owns a residence and the restaurant First American Fried Chicken, according to The Washington Post. The family has owned and operated the restaurant since 2002, and Ahmad Khan Rahami reportedly works behind the counter, The New York Times reported.

"A frequent patron of the restaurant, Ryan McCann, 33, said Ahmad Rahami was friendly and did not seem outwardly angry. Rather, Mr. McCann said, he was obsessed with fast cars, specifically Honda civics custom built to race . . . Mr. Rahami wore Western clothing, hung out on the sidewalk with friends and often slipped his regular customers free food," The Times reported.

On Sunday night, five people believed to be connected to Rahami were stopped in a car near the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Brooklyn and taken in for questioning, the newspaper noted. Some reports identified the people as relatives of Rahami's.

6. Discrimination lawsuit — The Washington Post reported that the Rahami family sued the City of Elizabeth and several police officers in 2011, claiming they were inappropriately cited for keeping their business open past 10 p.m. and harassed by police. The lawsuit alleged that law enforcement singled them out "solely on animus against (their) religion, creed, race, and national origin."

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TheWire
Ahmad Khan Rahami has been identified by the FBI as a suspect in the New York City bombing that injured 29 people over the weekend, and now his name is being linked to a pair of other incidents in the area. Here are six things to know about Rahami.
ahmad khan rahami, bombing, suspect
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2016-53-19
Monday, 19 September 2016 10:53 AM
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