[UPDATES] "Lone Wolf" Arrested After Targeting Officials With Pipe Bomb

Police Commissioner Kelly shows the kind of pipe used for the bombs (AP)

[UPDATES BELOW] NBC reports that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly and Manhattan DA Cy Vance are scheduled to make an announcement at 7:30 p.m. tonight—the announcement is "likely terrorism related." MSNBC's Meg Robertson reports that it's "confirmed" that the announced is terrorism related. We'll update this post as we learn more information.

Update 6:30 p.m.: MSNBC's Jesse Rodriguez just tweeted some more info about Bloomberg's announcement: "WNBC: Terror suspect taken into custody yesterday; lone-wolf suspect was preparing a pipe bomb."

Update 6:35 p.m.: The NYTimes is now reporting that authorities have arrested a man who they believe had begun building a bomb. They believe he wanted to detonate the bomb in NY with government workers as the target. They add that the as-yet unidentified suspect, who had been under surveillance for the last year, had bought bomb-making materials and “began to build them.”

Update 6:45 p.m.: NBC adds a few more details about the alleged terror suspect. The man, who lives with his mother, was taken into custody on Saturday after he was preparing explosive material.

Update 7:05: The suspect has now been identified as Jose Pimentel. A source described it as a “lone wolf scenario” to the Times, and added that Pimentel had been considering a possible array of targets that included government employees, lawmakers and military personnel returning from overseas service. According to NBC, the terror suspect had allegedly voiced anger at police and U.S. soldiers returning home from overseas.

Before you ask, Meg Robertson tweeted in response to people questioning the timing of the current announcement: "So many people in my @ replies suggesting mayor releasing info on year long investigation now to distract from #OWS. U guys!! So jaded! ;)"

Update 7:25 p.m.: You can watch a live stream of Bloomberg's announcement at 7:30 p.m. in the link here.

Update 8:40 p.m.: At the press conference this evening, Bloomberg, Kelly and Vance laid out the case against 27-year-old Manhattan resident and al-Qaeda sympathizer Jose Pimentel. "The suspect was a so-called lone wolf, motivated by his own resentment of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as al Qaeda propaganda," Bloomberg said. "He was not part of a larger conspiracy emanating from abroad."

Pimentel was a follower of extremist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, according to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly; he also often talked about changing his name to "Osama Hussein" after his two "heroes." Pimentel was allegedly extra motivated after the death of the U.S.-born al-Awlaki in September.

Watched since May 2009, Pimintel made incriminating statements to an informant who was working with the NYPD. Authorities felt the need to move in quickly against him Saturday because he had begun "drilling a hole for bombs"—he had all the materials ready to complete his bombs and seemed prepared to attack certain of his NYC targets. Kelly added that Pimentel tried to build several nail bombs before authorities arrested him: "We had always planned to take him into custody before he could detonate a fully-operated bomb," Kelly said.

You can read Bloomberg's remarks from the press conference here, and watch video of it below.

Also known as Muhammad Yusuf, Pimintel will face charges that include criminal possession of a weapon in the first degree as a crime of terrorism, which is considered an A-1 violent felony.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Yakas in News on November 20, 2011 6:50 PM

Comments [rss]

GovMule

I would be more afraid of the terror the mayor unleashed on the OWS group. What a joke.

NotConvinced

Why did they edit out the part about the FBI laughing hysterically?

Here's how Bloomy described him: Home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a
political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It
could be anything.
To be anymore connected to Fox News you'd have to be Bill O"Reilly's nutsack.

Marc Hug

Jose Pimentel, Arrested By NYPD In Terror Plot, Was Not A Serious Threat According To FBI

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Gina S

If he hates America so much then why doesn't he go back to the Dominican Repulic. Because they are so much better to their citizens there.

unretrofiedforu

Is everyone sufficiently distracted from OWS? Good!

jamieob256

Not me!

Nick Schlyer

Nice diversion guys. The people of New York needed some reassurance after all of the turmoil of the OWS day of action. Thanks for always having our backs! I know my tax dollars are hard at work.

Japan Communication

Look, I'm happy they caught this guy before he could detonate his pipe bomb. Those things, especially when filled with projectiles like nails, can definitely harm and kill people.

But the sight of police and the mayor holding press conferences to trumpet the rather routine arrest of a broke emotionally unstable loser, who lived with his mother and was building a bomb out of Home Depot parts that any decent high school chemistry student could construct, as if they had caught Bin Laden Jr. is just ludicrous. It doesn't take a wizard to connect the dots that the police might have decided that now was good time to finally wrap up their 2 year investigation (!!) into this pathetic "terrorist" and make a big show of how the NYPD is protecting the public from all those evil wannabe semi-Muslim terrorists out there.

Something, anything, to try to distract us from the images of Inspector Tony Baloney and other NYPD white shirts acting like power-mad thugs at the OWS protests, various capricious arrests and beatings of NYC citizens (particularly those of a darker hue) caught on video or reported by the press, cops robbing drug dealers and planting drugs on people or lying their way off duty to "cuddle" drunk women, and that lovely police riot in the Bronx in support of the cops' "right" to continue breaking the law. Just Bloomberg and Kelly trying to make the NYPD those terrorist fighting heroes of 9/11 again, with a case even the serially-idiot-entrapping FBI wouldn't touch.

sharpshoota

They want to make sure once Bloombergs term is over Kelly can take over the head spot. So obvious.

BombaySplashVermouth

Was there a blow torch involved too?
Oh wait. We are just before more budget cuts and a holiday. We wouldn't want to have the super sleuths budget cut or the public to start feeling safe again.

Jessy Smith

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

kevd

Every time there is too much criticism of our militarized police state
Kelly and Bloomberg trot out some mentally handicapped "terrorist"
they've entrapped.... or at least had informants help-along in his evil, bomb-making
plot. Remember people, Ray Kelly, Bloomberg and the NYPD are the only
things between us and a bunch of bombs blowing us all up all the time.

Love your pepper spraying overlords and their over-funded internal army.

JacksBack72

Just another under-educated, under-achieving member of the socially parasitic underclass. . . looking for some significance in seeking his 15-minutes of infamy!

So long, asshole! Enjoy the rest of your dumb-ass worthless life totally immersed in America's legal and correctional system!

Guest

"Lone Wolf"

http://earlyrecovery.files.wor...

LICnative

If there was a right wing zealot on his way to OWS to detonate that bomb, I'm sure the naysayers would have an entirely different angle on this arrest.

The pipe bomb built correctly by a lonely, unstable man can kill you just as fast as a pipe bomb built by a happy, Neo-Nazi with many friends.

Unless you think the tape of him actually building the bomb is the eleventh grade science project he never got to finish, he had violence running around in his demented head.

I'm glad SOMEONE stopped him before he could hurt an innocent.

Sulayman

As an NYC Muslim, I'm glad they caught the creep before he could do any real harm. I used to work in one of the government offices in downtown Manhattan last year, the thought that he could have targeted one of those places or me as a "government worker" makes my skin crawl. I dislike the fact that there are troops in Iraq, but his idea of attacking innocent New Yorkers is against everything I stand for and contrary to my religion. He thinks all Americans are legitimate targets, including women, children, and all civilians? That's completely against the Islamic hadiths. He gets no sympathy from me.

sharpshoota

Thank you for making that statement. Unfortunately, not enough muslims have publicly spoken out against these terrorists. In fact, we often see many muslims (most overseas) saying that even though they wouldn't conduct a suicide operation...they understand why others would. It's unfortunate since most americans view muslims with a skeptical eye since 9/11. I'm sure Pam Geller is loving this story.

Sulayman

Actually, Muslims have always spoken out against terrorism. Groups like CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MPAC, Fiqh Council of North America, Muslim bloggers, and even my local mosque have put out press releases and written op-eds denouncing such activity, but for some reason it's not considered newsworthy that Muslims condemn the stuff. I suppose the reporters think its too obvious to mention. Even when the NYT for example prints letters to the editor by imams and Muslim leaders, the public fails to notice.
If you watch Al Jazeera English or check out any Arabic or Urdu media, they frequently talk about violence and condemn it. It's like saying I don't hear Hispanics condemning the violence in Colombia; the Spanish news is full of talk about it.

Stan_LS

CAIR has links to Hamas and the Muslims Brotherhood. Check wiki.

Sulayman

I'm one of the writers and editors of their wiki page, and think you're misconstruing it. Yes, a few officials from CAIR met with them over 18 years ago, but once they began suicide bombings in 1994 CAIR cut all ties. Since then, Hamas was added to the State Department's list of terrorists groups, and CAIR has condemned Hamas' use of violence.