New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo linked the bombing that rocked New York City’s Chelsea District Saturday, Sept. 18 to terrorism, despite earlier reports that authorities were assuming it is apparently not linked to international terrorism.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo talked with area residents while touring the site of the explosion that caused some 25 suffer non-life-threatening injuries
Investigators scrambled to find out who planted a bomb that rocked the bustling New York City neighborhood and why Sunday, scouring shrapnel, forensic traces and surveillance video for any link to an unexploded pressure-cooker device found a few blocks away.
There seemed to be more questions than answers hours after the blast. All of the victims have since been released from the hospital.
‘‘We just know there was a bombing,’’ Mayor Bill de Blasio said at briefing at New York Police Department’s headquarters. ‘‘That much we do know.’’
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who toured the site of the blast in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, said there didn’t appear to be any link to international terrorism. But said a second device found blocks away from the bombing appeared ‘‘similar in design’’ to the first.
That device — described by a law enforcement official as a pressure cooker with wires and a cellphone attached to it — was removed early Sunday morning by a bomb squad robot and is being examined by forensic experts.
The investigation, city, state and federal authorities is continuing in New York after a device exploded and a second device may have been found. They were also investigating any links to another explosion in New Jersey.
Cuomo concluded later media interviews saying that the perpetrators of the explosion will be pursued and brought to justice.
