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| Car Bomb Forces Evacuation Of Times Square | |
| 2010-05-02 | |
| Police found a suspected car bomb in a smoking sport utility vehicle Saturday evening in Times Square, then cleared the streets of thousands of tourists milling through the landmark district so they could dismantle the device. A white robotic police arm broke windows of the black Nissan Pathfinder to remove any explosive materials while heavily armed police and emergency vehicles shut down the city's busiest streets, teeming with taxis and theatergoers on one of the first summer-like days of the year. Investigators removed bomb-making materials, including propane tanks, explosive powders and a crude timing device, top police spokesman Paul Browne said. "There were explosive elements, including powder, gasoline, propane and some kind of electrical wires attached to a clock," Browne said early Sunday. "No motive has been identified."
Police are investigating a report that someone was seen running from the vehicle at some point and are reviewing security videotapes, Browne said. The Nissan Pathfinder's license plates do not match the car's registration, he said. Police evacuated several residential and commercial buildings and cleared the streets of people. Police were deployed around the area with heavy weapons on empty streets in the heart of busy midtown Manhattan. Some tourists reported hearing a small explosion hours after the car was first located. Shelly Carlisle, of Portland, Ore., said police crowded into her Broadway theater after the curtain closed on "Next to Normal," a show on the same block where the SUV was found. "At the end of the show, the police came in. We were told we had to leave," Carlisle said. "They said there was a bomb scare." The car was parked on 45th Street, and the block was closed between Seventh and Eighth avenues as a precaution, police said. Times Square lies about four traffic-choked miles north of where terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, then laid waste to it on Sept. 11, 2001. FBI agents are on the scene with the New York Police Department, and the matter is being taken seriously, said Paul Bresson, head of the FBI's public affairs office at bureau headquarters in Washington. The Homeland Security Department is aware of the situation, but the NYPD has it under control and is investigating, said a Homeland Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is in progress. The block that was closed is one of the prime blocks for Broadway shows, with seven theaters housing such big shows as "Billy Elliot" and "Lend Me a Tenor." Katy Neubauer, 46, and Becca Saunders, 39, of Milwaukee, were shopping for souvenirs two blocks south of the SUV when they saw panicked crowds. "It was a mass of people running away from the scene," Neubauer said. Said Saunders: "There were too many people, too many cops. I've never seen anything like it." Mayor Michael Bloomberg left early from the White House correspondent's dinner Saturday night. A news conference was planned in New York for early Sunday. President Barack Obama, who attended the annual gala, praised the quick response by the New York Police Department, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. He has also directed his homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, to advise New York officials that the federal government is prepared to provide support. Brennan and others will keep Obama up to date on the investigation, Shapiro said. | |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #28 Gunpowder, petrol and propane tanks says amateurs who don't have access to someone who built a real bomb. IMO, Left or Right wing nuts. Probably the former given the date. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2010-05-02 21:40 |
| #27 G(r)omgoru, thanks for that useful info. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-05-02 20:49 |
| #26 Meanwhile over at the Democratic Underground: This is going to be a fascinating story to follow, whether it's more right wingers, some lone lunatic, or some religious wannabes. I wouldn't be surprised if teabaggers were behind the bomb scare Another Toyota recall problem? "The car was said to be a failed device" The McVeighs are starting Is BP trying to get off the front page? Wow, wonder who did it? Teabaggers or someone else? I think Halliburton has a finger in this pie Did they check who called in sick to FOX News? Stay classy, lefties. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2010-05-02 15:07 |
| #25 lotp, "propane tanks, explosive powders and a crude timing device" is practically a Paleo TM. Betcha if NYPD gives Shabak the whole data they'll get the name of the muhandas (engineer)in return. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-05-02 15:01 |
| #24 drink up! |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-02 14:53 |
| #23 Bomb Squad members then searched the SUV, which bore Connecticut license plates that were actually registered to a Ford F-150 Hmmm . . . . Looks like the F-150's spirit protected us somehow. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-05-02 14:49 |
| #22 Monitoring Group Says Pakistani Taliban Claims Responsibility for Times Square Car Bomb |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-05-02 14:15 |
| #21 maybe anarchists on May 1 There was also the Puerto Rican statehood bill passed last Friday as well. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-05-02 14:01 |
| #20 Mayor Michael Bloomberg left early from the White House correspondent's dinner Saturday night. A news conference was planned in New York for early Sunday Bambi - take note. |
| Posted by: anonymous_2u2 2010-05-02 13:35 |
| #19 All I needed. Mr. Secretary, initiate DEFCOM 1 please. Madam Secretary, send the Tehran communique at 2300 hrs local. Give them 30 minutes to evacuate. Someone notify the Israelis. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-02 11:55 |
| #18 From the Telegraph The device, which failed to detonate, was left near the offices of Viacom, which owns the irreverent cartoon series. Last month postings on an Islamic website warned the creators of South Park - Matt Stone and Trey Parker - that they could face violent reprisals after an episode of the show featured Mohammed in a bear suit. A posting on the website of a US-based group called Revolution Muslim warned Stone and Parker that they would “probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh”, the Dutch film-maker who was murdered in 2004 by a Muslim angered by his film about Muslim women. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2010-05-02 11:48 |
| #17 The Vietnam Vet T shirt business has a special on Jane Fonda t shirts today. |
| Posted by: bman 2010-05-02 11:40 |
| #16 Rhatigan, who has been on the force for 19 years, the last four in the Mounted Unit, smelled gunpowder Yet another case of gunpowder profiling by law enforcement. When will it end? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2010-05-02 11:26 |
| #15 Viacom Offices (see: "South Park") was evacuated. Prolly Teabaggers or disgruntled veterans, right, Janet Incompetano? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-02 11:21 |
| #14 "There was a "box within a box" in the car, a 2X2X4 black gun locker, Kelly said. Officials dismantled the first device and were in the process of rendering the second box safe this morning at the departmentÂ’s firing range in the Bronx." Hope they remembered to check with a Geiger counter. |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2010-05-02 11:14 |
| #13 That may have been a dry run, Lumpy Elmoluck5091. This was a lucky fizzle. The New York Post has more: An unidentified T-shirt vendor, who is a Vietnam veteran, saw smoke billowing from a Nissan Pathfinder and alerted Police Officer Wayne Rhatigan, a mounted patrol cop, who looked inside the smoldering vehicle at around 6:30 p.m. on West 45th Street near Seventh Avenue in front of an entrance to the Minskoff Theatre. Rhatigan, who has been on the force for 19 years, the last four in the Mounted Unit, smelled gunpowder and called in the Fire Department, which put out the car fire as he and two patrol officers cleared the area of civilians. Bomb Squad members then searched the SUV, which bore Connecticut license plates that were actually registered to a Ford F-150, and found two gasoline cans, three propane tanks, electrical wires, black powder, consumer grade fireworks and two clocks, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said. There was a "box within a box" in the car, a 2X2X4 black gun locker, Kelly said. Officials dismantled the first device and were in the process of rendering the second box safe this morning at the departmentÂ’s firing range in the Bronx. An NYPD security camera caught the Pathfinder travelling west on West 45th Street at 6:28 p.m. and at 6:34 p.m. the 911 call came in, Kelly said. Investigators interviewed the person who had the license plates before they were put on the Pathfinder. That person is not a suspect and told officials that he dropped the plates off at a junkyard. Police are trying to track down the owner of that junkyard. Ay Pee adds that the keys were left in the ignition, and fingerprints have been found. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-05-02 11:11 |
| #12 The Telegraph is reporting that the vehicle was parked near the Viacom headquarters. This might be aimed at South Park, even though the creators live in Colorado. |
| Posted by: Mizzou Mafia 2010-05-02 11:00 |
| #11 Being 1 May and all, it sounds more like some Anarchists group, maybe some close friend of Aires. It certainly would not be a communist/socialist group. That group owns the White House... |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2010-05-02 10:52 |
| #10 They picked up three Iranians with backpacks, after scouting out the sights from the top floor of the Marriot, and towed a licenseless van New Year's Eve. This hotel was also evacuated Saturday night, as it overlooks the district. Dry run? |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-05-02 09:22 |
| #9 Johnnie I believe Charles was being sarcastic. And a good one, too. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2010-05-02 08:52 |
| #8 When the person dropped the car off was there a taxi waiting for them? How did they get away? There are cameras everywhere around time square. |
| Posted by: airandee 2010-05-02 08:48 |
| #7 Fortunate they were not well-trained terrorists, or the bomb might have worked. Unless it was a false-flag bomb - intended to not go off, but to discredit some group without actually hurting anyone. We'll see who the vehicle or bomb components trace back to (think of Operation Himmler & Polish town Gleiwitz or maybe Gulf of Tonkin?) |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-05-02 08:42 |
| #6 Intifada or jihad ... or maybe anarchists on May 1. Or maybe someone pissed he couldn't get good tickets to the show. Who knows at this point? It's NYC. |
| Posted by: lotp 2010-05-02 08:14 |
| #5 Intifada comes to New York? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-05-02 04:46 |
| #4 Bush didn't protect us! Apparently your old mum didn't use the necessary protection either! |
| Posted by: Ralphs son Johnnie 2010-05-02 02:49 |
| #3 WHAT IF THE CAR EXPLODES. I never thought of that. Maybe you should call the NYC police and let them know. If they seem like they're ignoring you, just keep calling back until you find someone who will listen to you. |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-05-02 02:22 |
| #2 THEY NEED TO GET ALL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE AROUND THE CAR AREA OUT OF THERE. WHAT IF THE CAR EXPLODES. |
| Posted by: RICO 2010-05-02 01:11 |
| #1 Bush didn't protect us! |
| Posted by: Charles 2010-05-02 00:02 |