A bomb in Times Square could’ve been very nasty indeed, whether rabid teapartiers, Islamic or Xtian fundies were responsible:
NEW YORK —
Police found an “amateurish” but potentially powerful bomb in a smoking sport utility vehicle in Times Square, then cleared the streets of thousands of tourists milling through the landmark district so they could dismantle it, authorities said Sunday.
“We avoided what we could have been a very deadly event,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. “It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact.”
Investigators removed three propane tanks, consumer-grade fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at a news conference early Sunday. A black metal box resembling a gun locker was also recovered.
“I think the intent was to cause a significant ball of fire,” Kelly said.
Bloomberg called the explosive device “amateurish” but potentially deadly, noting: “We are very lucky.”
A white robotic police arm broke windows of the black Nissan Pathfinder to remove any explosive materials after a T-shirt vendor alerted police to the smoking vehicle at about 6:30 p.m. Heavily armed police and emergency vehicles shut down the city’s busiest streets, teeming with taxis and theatergoers on one of the first summer-like days of the year.
A Connecticut license plate on the vehicle did not match up, according to authorities, who did not know a motive. Police interviewed the Connecticut car owner, who told police he had sent the plates to a nearby junkyard, Bloomberg said. Police are reviewing surveillance video and looking for more.
After the vendor noticed smoke coming from the SUV, police cleared buildings and streets at the so-called “Crossroads of the World”; the area remained closed hours later. Officers were deployed around the area with heavy weapons on empty streets in the heart of busy midtown Manhattan. More…
Given the reported amateurism of the bomb’s manufacture, my money’s on the wingnuts.
Jay Vos
May 2, 2010 at 7:23 amYou’re on my blogroll, so this is the first I’ve read about what happened.
“Police interviewed the Connecticut car owner, who told police he had sent the plates to a nearby junkyard, Bloomberg said.” I’m also reading over at FDL the story that says the plates were on a truck. Doesn’t say that the truck was sold or abandoned by the owner.
I always thought when you sold your vehicle or just junked it, the plates had to be returned to the state motor vehicle dept. I’m in Vermont and you walk into any old barn here, undoubtedly you’ll find old timey license plates on the walls, as far back as the 1930s I reckon; these become collectors’ items. I don’t expect the ones from last night to be sold on eBay.
Palau
May 3, 2010 at 4:49 amI heard it on the BBC World Service while most of the US was asleep and from the details they gave (an SUV packed with propane, gun lockers and over-the-counter fireworks) I immediately smelled fundy: especially an out of date fundy who still thought that Times Square was the haunt of filthy hippies, liberals and gays, rather than the Bloombergian Disneyland it’s become.
The reports certainly didn’t smell of Al-Quaeda – more like Oklahoma. Sightings of a white suspect close to the site, if true, tend to support my interpretation.
There’s an immensely cynical part of me that wondered too if it wasn’t a setup meant to divert public attention from the Gulf oil leak. That’s certainly still a possibility, IMHO.
There’s also a