Authorities have taken a 28-year-old man into custody in connection with New York City, New Jersey bombings
Written by Malek

Ahmad Khan Rahami

by Peter Jacobs and Pamela Engel

The man the FBI sought in connection with this weekend's bombings in New Jersey and New York has been taken into custody after a shootout with the police in Linden, New Jersey, officials said Monday. The suspect, 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, was born in Afghanistan and is a naturalized US citizen, according to the FBI. He was not on any US terror watchlist, officials said.

Rahami was shot in the standoff with the police, and a witness told The New York Times a police officer might have been shot as well.

He is believed to have connections to three incidents this past weekend, according to law-enforcement agencies:

  • A bombing along the route of a New Jersey charity race Saturday morning;
  • A bombing Saturday night in New York City;
  • And additional devices found in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Sunday night.

The mayor of Linden told ABC 7 in New York that an officer found Rahami when responding to a report of a person sleeping in the hallway of a bar.

ABC News reported that Rahami was taken to a hospital after he was apprehended:

Rahami's last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the FBI turned its investigation Monday morning after a backpack full of bombs was secured by authorities near an Elizabeth train station late Sunday night.

Five bombs were found in the backpack; one of them exploded while Union County's bomb squad tried to defuse it with a robot.

Two restaurant patrons first saw the backpack on top of a trash can outside Hector's Place restaurant, thought it might contain valuables, and tried to carry it through the parking lot, according to The New York Times. When the bag got too heavy, they dropped it. They then discovered that it contained wires and a pipe, and they called the police.

Rahami is also believed to have connections to the New York City bombing on Saturday night. Authorities believe he appeared in surveillance video that evening from 23rd Street and 27th Street, where one bomb exploded and another was found, according to NBC News.

The bomb that exploded on 23rd Street injured 29 people, all of whom have been released from hospitals. FBI agents stopped "a vehicle of interest in the investigation" Sunday evening.

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York had warned that Rahami could be "armed and dangerous," and he instructed anyone who spotted him to call 911 immediately. Area residents received an emergency alert about Rahami on Monday morning on their phones.

So far, the police have not identified any additional suspects. But law-enforcement sources say two others were seen on surveillance tape handling the bomb in New York on Saturday, and the police questioned five people who were in the vehicle pulled over Sunday night in connection to the investigation.

Authorities appear to be changing their initial assessment that the bombs found in New York and New Jersey weren't connected and that the incidents didn't appear to be related to international terrorism.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York told CNN on Monday morning that he "would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act."


Here's everything we know about Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in custody in connection with the New York and New Jersey bombings

By Mark Abadi

Ahmad Khan Rahami, a 28-year-old Afghan-American man, has been taken into custody in connection with bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend.

Police arrested him after an exchange of gunfire in Linden, New Jersey, that left the suspect wounded.

Details about Rahami are slowly starting to emerge. Here's everything we know about him so far:

• He's an American citizen. Rahami was born in Afghanistan in 1988. The FBI described him as a naturalized US citizen whose last known address was in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

• He's believed to have connections to three bomb incidents this weekend: One bomb exploded in New Jersey before the start of a charity race on Saturday morning; another exploded in New York City on Saturday night and injured 29 people; and additional unexploded devices were found in New Jersey on Sunday.

Rahami is not believed to have a connection to a mass stabbing in Minnesota on Saturday, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.

• There's no evidence he's connected to ISIS, Al Qaeda, or other foreign terror organizations. However, authorities are exploring a possible link to international terrorist groups. After initially insisting the New York bombings weren't linked to international terrorism, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday the attack appeared to be a "specific act of terror." New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he "would not be surprised if we did have a foreign connection to the act."

• Rahami's family had issues with their local government. Rahami's father's restaurant, First American Fried Chicken, in Elizabeth, was open 24 hours a day and drew complaints from neighbors about rowdy crowds and loitering, according to The New York Times. Rahami and his brothers worked at the restaurant. The Rahamis did not comply with a City Council ordinance to close the restaurant at 10 p.m., and one of Rahami's brothers was arrested after fighting a police officer who came to close the restaurant, but fled to Afghanistan before the case could be resolved.

According to The Times, the Rahami family sued the city, the police department, and about 15 police officers, claiming they had been discriminated against because of their race and ethnicity.

  Two members of the FBI work at the scene of Saturday night's explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. Getty Images/Drew Angerer

• He's gotten in trouble with the law before. A New Jersey apartment complex filed a landlord-tenant civil action suit against Rahami in 2013, USA Today reported, although the outcome of the case is unknown. Rahami also lost $1,158 in a small claims judgment in 2012, according to USA Today.

• The devices found in New York City were made with pressure cookers, flip phones, and Christmas lights. The explosives were filled with "small bearings or metal BBs" to inflict as much damage as possible, according to The New York Times.

• Police found Rahami sleeping in a bar. A bar owner in Linden, New Jersey, called authorities about a man sleeping in the hallway of his bar. An officer recognized the man as Rahami, and a gunfight erupted between the two. The officer was hit in his bulletproof vest over his abdomen. Rahami fled the bar and was eventually shot multiple times by other officers. One other officer was injured in the gunfight.