police said early Tuesday, after a government official said
investigators were focusing on a man of Pakistani descent who has been
living in
“Law enforcement can confirm an arrest has been
made,” a spokesman for the New York Police Department said shortly
after midnight.
U.S. Attorney General
“It’s clear the intent behind this terrorist attack was to kill Americans,” Holder said.
He said Shahzad was arrested at
Holder indicated more arrests would be made. “This
investigation is ongoing. It is multifaceted,” he said. “We will not
rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice.”
Earlier, a government official in
had said police and FBI agents were closing in on a man of Pakistani
descent and suspected the man had not acted on his own when he left a
Nissan Pathfinder laden with explosives in
The amount of explosive material inside the SUV —
which included about 100 pounds of fertilizer as well as a large metal
gun box, firecrackers, cans of gasoline and three propane tanks —
suggested that it took two people to prepare it, especially in secret,
the official said.
However, the official, who declined to be identified
because he said the investigation was sensitive and moving fast,
described the work as “done with little sophistication.” He also noted
that if the assailants were trained by a Middle Eastern terrorist
group, it likely “would have been a suicide bombing.”
Attention turned to the man after the vehicle’s previous owner recalled selling it to someone who was either Arabic or Latino.
The Associated Press reported that the buyer had traveled recently to
The incident, coming months after a foiled plot by Afghan immigrants to blow up
But Mayor
bystanders’ attention and the reaction of police showed the ability of
the city to respond to threats, and that the bustling crowds in
showed the city’s resilience. “It’s a sick and despicable act, but New
Yorkers are going about their normal activities,” Bloomberg said.
The city returned to work Monday, seemingly unfazed by the idea that a bomber remained on the loose.
Construction workers
“If anything, the economy was more of a topic,”
Pugliese said. They had talked Monday about the potential of a car
bombing in the city, but only briefly. Both electrical workers who
specialize in elevators, they had vivid memories of
“Before 9/11 you saw something funny and you walked
by it,” Marshall said. “Now you look and you wonder and you think
twice. It’s just part of the city now.”
It was, in fact, two street vendors who first noticed the suspicious SUV and alerted police.
Marshall said it showed that the city’s post-
Pugliese, not convinced, said it was the would-be
bomber’s ineptitude that saved the day. “He was an amateur and his bomb
messed up. We were lucky. Again,” he said.
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