A t-shirt vendor who noticed smoke coming out of a tinted, dark green sport utility vehicle alerted police to what turned out to be a potential bomb placed in Times Square.
“We avoided what could have been a very deadly event,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg early Sunday morning. “It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact.”
President Obama, who was updated on the situation late Saturday night, said the federal government was prepared to provide support. Two federal officials said Sunday it was too early to tell whether the incident involved al Qaeda or another international terror group. The national threat level remained at “yellow,” or elevated.
Officials said authorities are going through video from dozens of surveillance cameras in Times Square to determine who left the Nissan Pathfinder with its engine running and hazard lights flashing on a street shortly after 6 p.m. Saturday.
Inside the vehicle, police found three propane tanks, two filled five-gallon gas containers, two clocks with batteries, consumer-grade fireworks and a locked metal box that resembled a gun locker.
The wiring around the device “looked amateurish,” Bloomberg said.
A robot from the city police department’s bomb squad smashed through the back window of the SUV and retrieved the box after several hours. It was taken to a bomb squad facility in the Bronx.
Shortly before 6 a.m. Sunday, the Pathfinder was loaded on to the back of a flatbed truck, covered with a yellow tarp and towed away.
The forensics on the bomb component will take time and are complex, a federal law enforcement official said. But, the official said, “the scientists can do wonders.”
Officials did not immediately know how the bomb would have been detonated, nor did anyone claim responsibility. “So far, we have no reports of anybody running away (from the car),” Bloomberg said. “That doesn’t mean there won’t be when we look at all the cameras.”
Authorities may also appeal to the public to provide personal photos taken at the time, a federal law enforcement official said.
Following the incident, security in other burroughs was heightened, but nothing suspicious was reported anywhere else, the mayor said.
The vehicle’s VIN number had been removed, but investigators said they remained hopeful that they will be able to locate a VIN somewhere in the vehicle; they are stamped in various places, the official said.
With that information, they can trace the history of the SUV to some degree.
“Tonight, we owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the heroic actions of the New York City Police Department and to a single vigilant New Yorker who identified a suspicious vehicle near Times Square in New York City,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
“Luckily, no one is hurt, and now the full attention of city, state and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism.”
