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NEW: Video shows same man near explosion site and place where pressure cooker found
NEW: Pressure cooker device found near explosion site rendered safe
A day after a bombing injured 29 people in a New York City neighborhood, surveillance videos show the same man near the site of the explosion and another location where a pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away, multiple local and federal law enforcement sources told CNN.
Saturday’s explosion shook New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, packed with restaurants, subway stations, shops, businesses and art galleries, and sent panicked people scrambling for cover. Police continued to scour the area on Sunday for clues about who was responsible for the explosion and a motive.
A few blocks away from the blast site and shortly after the explosion occurred, investigators found one possible lead: a pressure cooker, with dark-colored wiring sticking out, connected by silver duct tape to what appears to be a cellphone, officials said.
Surveillance videos from Saturday shows the same man near both sites, multiple sources told CNN.
3 attacks on US soil
By Sunday morning, 26 people who had been admitted to hospitals were released as city officials appealed to the public for help in finding those responsible. Authorities cordoned off the street where the explosion occurred, south of Midtown in western Manhattan.
The blast occurred on the same day an explosion went off near a Marine Corps charity run in New Jersey and a man stabbed nine people at a Minnesota mall, leaving many across the country on edge. Authorities are investigating all three incidents as possible terror acts.
The Department of Homeland Security is actively monitoring and participating in the investigations in New York and New Jersey. Investigators found similarities between the explosives used in both states, according to multiple law enforcement officials, but authorities said they have not concluded the incidents are linked.
“We do not have any specific evidence of a connection, but that will continue to be considered,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “We’re not taking any options off the table.”
In New York, law enforcement officials and the mayor said that without knowing who’s responsible or what the motive was, it’s too soon to call the Saturday bombing a terror attack.
“We know it was a very serious incident, but we have a lot more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this,” de Blasio told reporters Sunday. “Was it a political motivation? Was it a personal motivation? We do not know that yet.”
