[ot-caption title=”23rd Street in Chelsea, where Rahmani’s bomb injured 29 people. (via, Wikipedia)”]

On Saturday, September 17, an explosion injured 29 people in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and a pipe bomb in Seaside, NJ, exploded before thousands of runners were to participate in a charity 5K race to benefit marines and soldiers. The primary suspect for these attacks in New York and New Jersey was Ahmad Khan Rahami. He was captured after a frantic manhunt, thanks to a bar owner in New Jersey who found him sleeping on the bar’s doorstep and quickly called the police. After a shootout in Linden, New Jersey, the suspect was apprehended.[spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Rahami, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, has been charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. In federal court, he has also been charged with four counts in federal court in connection with an explosion in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and an unexploded pressure cooker found nearby. Devices were also found in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His bail has been set at $5.2 million. It is unknown as to whether or not he acted alone.[spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

Rahami’s family and friends say that they first noticed a change in him when he started to become more religious and distant after a year long trip to Afghanistan in 2014. In his interview with the New York Times, his father claimed that he warned federal agents about his son.[spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

“The way he speaks, his videos, when I see these things that he listens to, for example, Al Qaeda, Taliban, he watches their videos, their poetry,” his father said.[spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

However, the FBI told CBS that the father failed to mention anything regarding possible radicalization his son experienced including links to Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Rahami’s wife, who was in the United Arab Emirates at the time of the attacks, has returned to the United States and is cooperating with authorities.[spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

In a journal found on Rahami when he was arrested, he makes explicit references to terrorists Osama Bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Nidal Hasan. He also brings up the pipe bombs and the pressure cooker bomb, affirming his motive, concluding his entry with, “The sounds of the bombs will be heard in the streets. Gun shots to your police. Death To Your OPPRESSION.” [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

To keep our nation safe, the FBI continues to look into matters of pressing national security in order to prevent these acts of terror from becoming the “new norm.” [spacer height=”10px” id=”2″]

“Our focus now is on a much more disparate threat that’s hard to see — unpredictable, motivated, and driven by people who are just disturbed,” FBI directory James Comey said.[spacer height=”20px”]

Sources: CNN, Washington Post, NBC, CBS, New York Times