On Saturday, a pipe bomb exploded in Chelsea, injuring 29 people. Late Sunday night, authorities reportedly found three pipe bombs and two “smaller devices” at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after two men discovered them in the trash.
Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage told reporters, “They noticed a package in a wastebasket. They took the package out of the wastebasket because they thought it was of some value to them.” They then realised it could be a bomb.
“There is no threat to public safety as the package is being secured and investigated,” Bollwage tweeted early Monday morning.
FBI Bomb Squad is on scene and continuing the investigation at the train station in Midtown Elizabeth. pic.twitter.com/qvmzsgisjC
— Chris Bollwage (@MayorBollwage) September 19, 2016
Authorities suspect the bombs found in Elizabeth could be connected to the Chelsea bombing, as well as the pipe bomb that exploded in Seaside Park, New Jersey yesterday. NBC news reporter Tom Winter tweeted that the device found in Elizabeth “is similar in appearance to [the] device found in Seaside Park, NJ.” Nothing is confirmed.
NBC news reporter Miguel Almaguer tweeted early Monday morning that a “thunderous explosion” appeared “to startle many police” and send people running in the Elizabeth train station.
After detonation in Elizabeth, NJ …smell of gun powder in air. Police have not confirmed if this was controlled explosion. Bomb squad here
— Miguel Almaguer (@Miguelnbc) September 19, 2016
Meanwhile, a New York state senator also announced on Instagram late Sunday night that the FBI has taken “several individuals into custody with a possible connection to the bombing last night in Chelsea.”
The New York Daily News reports:
The five taken into custody had come over the Verrazano Bridge from Staten Island. Investigators were trying to determine if the occupants of the SUV were about to drive out of town or take a plane, sources said.
Investigators identified a person of interest in the Manhattan attack through surveillance footage, but it’s unclear if he was among the five arrested.