UPDATE: Ahmad Khan Rahami Has Been Arrested By NJPD
Photo of Chelsea Explosion taken by European Pressphoto Agency.
UPDATE #4:Ahmad Khan Rahami, the 28-year-old Chelsea bombing suspect, has now been taken into police custody after an intense gun battle in Linden, New Jersey. At least one officer has been shot in the chest during the takedown, but was not seriously wounded because he was wearing a bullet proof vest. Rahami was also wounded in the shootout and is currently en route to a hospital, according to NBC News. The extent of his injuries was not made clear.
Watch the video below.
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UPDATE #3:An alert has just went across the wire and cell phones in New York City, identifyingAhmad Khan Rahamias a main suspect in relation to Saturday's blast in the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan. The 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Afghanistan is considered "armed and dangerous" by the NYPD, and has had his photographed released to the public by the police (see below). Early Monday morning (9/19), a backpack containing up to five explosive devices was detonated in Elizabeth, New Jersey, an area which also was Rahami's last known address. The devices were exploded when a bomb disposal robot tried to deactivate it. "Anyone who sees this individual or knows anything about him or his whereabouts needs to call it in right away," New York Mayor Bill de Blasiosaid on CNN. It has not yet been determined who was behind the devices found in the Elizabeth, New Jersey railway station.
UPDATE: The explosion that ravaged a crowded Chelsea, New York neighborhood has injured at least 29 people. According to NBC News, three hours after the initial blast on 23rd Street between the Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue, a "possible secondary device" was found a few blocks away. The NYPD contained it aboard a special containment vessel, as three law enforcement sources described the item as "a pressure cooker with items attached." President Barack Obama has been made away of the situation, and we will continue to follow as this is a developing situation.
See the original story below.
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An explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City on Saturday night has injured at least 25 people, according to multiple reports.
New York Times reported that the explosion occurred on 23rd Street between the Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue. The fire department has said that at least 25 people have non-life threatening injuries. The explosion destroyed the lower windows of the Associated Blind Housing facility on W. 23rd.
CNN reported that a law enforcement source has ruled out gas as the cause for the explosion. The ATF New York arson and explosive task forces are still working to figure outthe cause of the explosion.
So far, law enforcement's preliminary belief is that the explosionhappened in or near a dumpster. CNN also reported that social media users could hear it as far away as Hoboken, New Jersey, which is across the Hudson River from the Chelsea neighborhood.
In a press conference on Saturday night, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the explosion "was an intentional act."
"New Yorkers will not be intimidated," he continued. "We will not let anyone change who we are or how we go about our lives."
Follow updates in real time with the #Chelsea hashtag on Twitter.