Police have arrested a man wanted in connection with two Saturday bombings in New York and New Jersey, apparently after a shootout.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was arrested Monday in Linden, N.J., according to an Associated Press report. Two officers were shot during the confrontation, according to a Washington Post report – one in the hand, and the other in the protective vest. Three police were taken to the hospital after the incident; one had high blood pressure, according to the AP. Rahami was also shot and left the scene in an ambulance.
Rahami is suspected of involvement in the Saturday bombing in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood that injured nearly 30 people, according to the Washington Post. Earlier Saturday, a pipe bomb had exploded in a trash can in Seaside, N.J., and on Sunday several explosive devices were discovered in a package at a transit station in Elizabeth, N.J. No one was injured by the New Jersey bombs.
Rahami is a US citizen who was born in Afghanistan, according to the Post. The AP reported that Rahami had relatives who in 2011 had filed a federal lawsuit against Elizabeth officials, claiming their family business was targeted because they were Muslims.
Mohammad Ruhami and his sons had claimed that the city tried to restrict their restaurant’s business hours. The suit ended in 2012 after Mohammad Ruhami pleaded guilty to blocking police from enforcing the city’s restrictions, according to the AP. Ahmad Khan Rahami was not involved in that lawsuit.
