Police Arrest Suspect Connected To Bombings In New York, New Jersey

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

We know much more today about a bombing in New York City over the weekend and several other bombs planted in the region over the last few days. A 28-year-old man was arrested this morning after a shootout with police in New Jersey. He was charged with five counts of attempted murder and two counts related to weapons possession. Other federal charges could come later. We're going to learn the latest about the investigation and the suspect, starting with NPR's counterterrorism correspondent Dina Temple-Raston. Hi, Dina.

DINA TEMPLE-RASTON, BYLINE: Hi there.

SHAPIRO: What can you tell us about today's arrest?

TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, the man believed to be responsible for Saturday's bombing in Chelsea is Ahmad Khan Rahami. He was captured in New Jersey, and police had issued a cellphone alert to millions of residents in the area, telling them to be on the lookout for him. And it worked. He was found sleeping in the doorway of a bar in Linden, N.J.

An officer approached him, recognized him and told Rahami to show him his hand. And instead he pulled out a handgun and shot the officer right in the abdomen. But the bullet hit his bulletproof vest. The officer returned fire. And then our sources say that Rahami took off running. He shot wildly several times, and he was eventually subdued and shot himself. And by noon, he was in custody.

SHAPIRO: How did officials come to identify him? Was it these surveillance tapes that we've heard about?

TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, there were several key clues. Surveillance tapes was one of them. There was also a fingerprint, our sources say, found on one of the pressure cooker bombs. And we understand that a cell phone on one of the bombs that didn't go off was linked to Rahami's father. Now, together those clues were enough for police to believe that they had the man they were looking for.

SHAPIRO: What about other suspects? Are police confident that they have everyone they need in custody?

TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, law enforcement officials tell us that they may be looking for at least one other person who might have helped him with the plan. The rule of thumb generally when it comes to these kinds of cases is that for every one frontline attacker, there are usually three to four people providing some sort of support.

So they're definitely looking for more people. They just aren't sure whether or not Rahami was able to make all of these things himself 'cause there were quite a number, as you said - there were quite a number of devices that were found.

SHAPIRO: Over the weekend we heard city leaders suggest that this was not tied to international terrorism. It sounds like now that might be being walked back. What can you tell us about that question?

TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, as far as we know, there's been no specific tie to any specific group. But as they continue with the investigation, it's clear that there is something going on here that may indeed be tied to terrorism, that there may have been a political end or some sort of political motive to this.

Now, they don't know what the motive is, but the actual definition of terrorism is violence basically preyed upon people because you want to send a political message. So they're now finally opening the door to that possibility.

SHAPIRO: And with at least five devices found over the last few days, do authorities believe this one suspect was responsible for all of them?

TEMPLE-RASTON: Well, that's what they're trying to find out. You know, this all began with a pipe bomb that went off near a race for Marines in New Jersey. That was on Saturday afternoon. And initially they didn't think that that bomb because it was a pipe bomb was related to the Saturday night blast in Chelsea because it was a different kind of device.

But now that they've done the analysis of the devices, there are some things that they have in common, like explosive materials. This was a special sort of mixture of explosive material, not just gunpowder or explosive that would be found inside fireworks which is often used in these kinds of devices. The detonators were similar.

And in each of these, we understand that there were sort of - a flip cell phone was used and that particular type of that flip cell phone was used as a timer. So they believe that Rahami may have been - had a hand in all of them.

SHAPIRO: That's NPR's Dina Temple-Raston. Thanks, Dina.

TEMPLE-RASTON: You're welcome.

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