The man believed to be responsible for the explosion in Manhattan on Saturday night and an earlier bombing in New Jersey, Ahmad Khan Rahami, was taken into custody on Monday after he was wounded in a gunfight with the police, according to law enforcement officials.
The dramatic episode on a rain-soaked street in Linden, N.J., came after the police issued a cellphone alert to millions of residents in the area telling them to be on the lookout for Mr. Rahami, 28, who was described as “armed and dangerous.”
The showdown started at around 10:30 a.m. when a resident spotted Mr. Rahami sleeping in the doorway of a bar, according to officials.
Capt. James Sarnicki of the Linden Police Department told reporters that one of the officers approached the suspect and when he woke him, he saw that he had a beard that resembled that of the man on the Wanted poster.
The officer ordered Mr. Rahami to show hands, Captain Sarnicki said, but instead, he pulled out a handgun.
| REUTERS photo |
He shot the officer in the abdomen, Captain Sarnicki said, but the bullet struck his vest.
“The officer returned fire,” he said. Mr. Rahami fled, “indiscriminantly firing his weapons at passing vehicles.”
Other officers joined the chase, and Mr. Rahami was shot multiple times. At least one other officer was injured during the confrontation.
Shortly before noon, Mr. Rahami was in custody, seen by witnesses splayed out beside the street, hands cuffed behind his back and his shirt rolled up, officers standing over him with their weapons drawn.
Mr. Rahami, blood pouring from a wound in his shoulder and splattered on his face, was loaded onto a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance.