Results tagged “bomb”

A Manhattan Federal Court judge did double duty as the fashion police yesterday, when he ordered a groovy balloon artist who's suing police to go change out of his tie-dyed T-shirt, tie-dyed patchwork overalls, and far-out multicolored sneakers. Russian immigrant Alexander "Sasha" Alhovsky, 40, was in the court room during jury selection for the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages over claims that the NYPD used excessive force when he was taken into custody in June 2006, on suspicion of planting a fake bomb inside an UES Starbucks three days earlier.

This weekend there were reports of a bomb going off on South 3rd Street in Williamsburg, during the early morning hours of Sunday. Now the Daily News has more details, confirming that the block between Roebling and Havemeyer was the stage for an explosion around 12:30 a.m. on Sunday.

A little bit before 1 a.m. word came across the newswire that at 221 South 3rd Street, at Roebling Street in Williamsburg, there was a search in progress for "secondary devices" in regards to an explosion. There was a bomb squad on the scene and a staging area set up for EMS at South 5th Street.

For two hours a week, there's a museum off the BQE that opens its doors and fights for the preservation of Admiral's Row in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The NY Times reports on Scott Witter's cause, which is displayed on a sign in his museum; it reads: “Don’t let Pirate Mike steal our heritage.”

With terror suspect Najibullah Zazi in custody, accused to plotting to bomb NYC mass transit, experts are now weighing on how Zazi's purchases from a beauty supply store were very dangerous. They say that Zazi "had the means to kill scores of people — not hundreds or thousands," with retired FBI explosives expert Denny Kline saying, "These explosives are meant to be concealed easily and deployed easily and kill and maim and cause havoc in small areas."

On Tuesday evening, Suffolk County police were called to a home in North Babylon because an explosion occurred in the basement. A 17-year-old was injured and, after hours on the scene, police later said that an "improvised explosive device" had been set off. Now, as cops continue to investigate the incident, it's reported that the North Babylon High School student had photographs of the Columbine massacre and killers on his bedroom door.

Kyle Shaw, the 17-year-old who was apparently so inspired by Fight Club that he allegedly bombed a Starbucks in May, appeared at his bail hearing today—with a bruise near his left eye! The Post reports, "Shaw got the shiner while at Rikers Island this week after another inmate punched him," and the Daily News explains, "Before he socked him, the jailbird asked if [Shaw] was part of the lockup's own fight club - brawls organized by correction officers under the rubric 'The Program,' a source said." We wonder if Shaw's affection for the film (and book) is fading. Prosecutor Chris Ryan asked that Shaw remained in custody, because he was taped saying he wanted to plant another bomb before he headed off to Outward Bound this summer—"I'm going to ... camp. I think I need to do one more before I go." However, the judge allowed Shaw to head home for the weekend before he makes a decision on Monday. Ryan complained to the News, "I can't imagine that any New Yorker believes that someone who sets off a bomb ought to go anywhere but jail."

Little alleged anarchist Kyle Shaw, who was arrested yesterday for bombing an Upper East SIde Starbucks in May, is being held on $100,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond. According to the Daily News, the 17-year-old's father "said the high bail was just a way to keep his son in jail" but prosecutors point out someone could have been injured by the crude bomb, though no one was. Shaw's friends tipped off the cops, worried that he would strike again. A teen neighbor of Shaw's told the News that Shaw pulled a hunting knife on him and claimed responsibility for the bomb, "I didn't believe him. He was always bragging," and added that Shaw bought sunglasses similar to the ones Brad Pitt wore as Tyler Durden in Fight Club off eBay. Another friend and former classmate told the Times, "I would never paint him in that way, as a domestic terrorist or anything. He never gave an inkling that he was into that. He is very funny. Very outgoing. Friendly with mostly everybody," but admitted that Shaw really loved Fight Club: "He saw the movie and he read the book. He wanted to watch the movie in our English class in the 11th grade. We were discussing existentialism in class, and he suggested we watch the movie as an example. We ended up watching ‘I Heart Huckabees.'"

CityRoom has posted the U.S. Marshals' Form 531B, which shows the "nine questions that law enforcement agencies want answered in the event of a bomb threat over the phone." Sure, not all bomb threats at called in, but, in case they are, these questions may be useful. The questions include things like "Did you place the bomb?" and "Why?" and also asks the person fielding the call to notice the caller's voice and manner (stutter? slurred? disguised? accent?) and noises in the caller's environment (P.A. system? animal noises? music?—yes, just like in The Fugitive). Initially the U.S. Marshals' spokesman William Dundon suggested that animals noises could eliminate NYC as being a caller's location, but then revised himself, "There are roosters in the city. I have heard them in the morning."

Hey, just because the bomb that was set off outside an Upper East Side Starbucks on Monday morning was homemade—"fashioned from a water bottle and the same explosive powder used in fireworks," the Daily News reports—doesn't mean it wasn't a threat to the public. NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said,"Had someone been walking by, this could have caused serious injury, if not death." The police also revealed that a "metal bottle cap inscribed with the capital letters VET that was found amid the bomb remnants"— investigators are looking at whether "there's a manufacturer that makes metal bottle caps that contain those letters"—and that the two teens seen fleeing from the scene that morning are described as blond teen in a red shirt and a brown-haired teen in a gray shirt. John Jay College of Criminal Justice professor Eugene O'Donnell tells WCBS 2, "Bombings are not easy to solve, sometimes because the forensic evidence is so deteriorated."

Police are continuing to investigate the low-grade explosive that detonated outside a Starbucks on the Upper East Side early yesterday morning. Authorities do not think the bomb is the work of terrorists and one resident of the Third Avenue at 92nd Street building, Issan Hage, told 1010 WINS, "I looked out the window and saw two kids running away. I believe it's just kids pissed off at Starbucks for selling coffee for $2."

One day in June 2007, maintenance man Robert Lopez was taking out the trash at the Cadman Towers in Brooklyn Heights when he found some fake dynamite sticks attached to a clock. "I thought it was cool," he tells the Times, and so he took it home to make a piggy bank out of it. That idea landed him in Riker's Island (where inmates called him the "Mad Bomber") and an indictment on charges of "placing a false bomb or hazardous substance," a felony that carries up to four years in prison. A transit worker had spotted him carrying the fake dynamite and called police, who arrested him outside his Fort Greene apartment. Which he no longer rents; he lost his job and he's been homeless for a month. Sometimes he cleans a McDonald's in Brooklyn. Sad enough yet? In a teary interview with the Times, he explains, "On 9/11, from my roof of my building I could see the top of the towers smoking... I’m not a terrorist. I wouldn’t hurt nobody like that. Never." The Brooklyn D.A. isn't convinced, and Lopez is due back in court on Wednesday.

           

Last night BOMB, an art and culture magazine started in NYC in 1981, held their 28th Anniversary and Gala Auction at the National Arts Club. The music was curated by honorees of the evening Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, the potatoes were stuffed with caviar, and the silent bidding on artwork started in the four figure range. What recession, indeed! Check out all of the pieces that were on the block here.

A 14-year-old student at Midwood High School was arrested for planning a "Drano bomb" attack. The teen was overheard telling someone about his plans, so another student told a teacher and then the school's police officer got involved. Newsday reports that police found "Liquid Plumber, three types of deodorant, balloons and instructions detailing how to make a chemical reaction device" inside his backpack. Police Commissioner Kelly said, "It has some explosive capacity, but not much. It sounds like it's just sort of a childish prank." The teen, whose case was referred to Family Court because he's a juvenile, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and reckless endangerment.

Part of the Southwest Airlines terminal at MacArthur Airport on Long Island was evacuated for about an hour this morning after an improvised explosive device was found in the carry-on bag of an unidentified man. Officials say they won't be able to determine what the device is until it's defused and examined, but it's believed to be either a smoke bomb, pipe bomb or firework. It was spotted by TSA baggage screeners as the 20-year-old attempted to board a flight to Las Vegas, where he resides. The TSA then pulled his checked luggage and found a knife and fireworks, including M-80s. The FBI and agents from the DOJ's Joint Terrorism Task Force are on the scene; FBI spokeswoman Lara Uselding tells Newsday the man has "no known nexus to terrorism." At least four outgoing flights were delayed following the incident.

Morton Sobell, who in the '50s was convicted along with Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges, has finally admitted he was a Soviet spy. However the NY Times reports that the now 91-year-old, who spent 19 years behind bars and now lives in the Bronx, said "the sketches and other information on the bomb that were passed along to Julius Rosenberg were of little value to the Soviets," in fact, he called it "junk." When the paper asked him if he was a spy, he declared, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, call it that. I never thought of it as that in those terms.” He also noted that "Ethel Rosenberg was aware of her husband’s espionage, but did not actively participate."

Remember the lady who tried to argue her way onto a plane last April by bringing up her already checked bags: "What if I had a bomb in my bag? Well, I have a bomb in my bag, so are you guys going to turn the plane around cuz I need my bag" Well, Rosalinda Baez ended up paying JetBlue $23,000 for the plane's emergency landing (they had to be safe, of course). And though the fake bomb charges were dropped, business consultant Baez pleaded guilty to pot possession--there was a "very small quantity of marijuana residue" on her. The Post adds that she "glared at the prosecutor and rolled her eyes repeatedly during yesterday's plea" and could face up to 6 months at sentencing.

Police suspect that a strange van filled with mysterious explosives found in Sunset Park may be linked to a landlord with a history of bomb-making activities.

Brooklyn prosecutors have charged a landlord with trying to kill a tenant. Yung Tang is accused of attempted murder, assault and arson for the 2002 incident.

Starting today, teams of six NYPD officers will be patrolling the subway system in 12 hour shifts to thwart would-be terrorists. You’ll be able to easily identify the squads – called “Torch Teams” – by their rifles, MP5 submachine guns, handguns, body armor and bomb-sniffing dogs.

A business consultant is accused of "falsely claiming there was a bomb in her suitcase" after she was unable to get onto her JetBlue flight at JFK Airport last week.

The police have taken fingerprints from the bike believed to have been trashed by the Times Square bomber. They are also looking for traces of DNA left on the bike and checking cellphone transmissions in the area during Thursday early morning, which is when a bomb exploded outside the army recruiting center.

Some Capitol Hill offices received letters claiming responsibility for this morning's bombing in Times Square. WNBC reports that the letters, which arrived today, included a photo of the Army recruiting center "before it was bombed and...the words 'We did it.'"

The NYPD released surveillance footage of this morning's explosion near the Army recruiting center in Times Square. The footage shows a bicyclist approaching the building and an explosion taking place after he leaves.

Portions of Francis Lewis High School were shut down yesterday after a teenager said he had a bomb. In reality, it turns out that it was more like a rocket. Nonetheless, the teen was charged with placing a false bomb. School security (they're useful for something, apparently) overheard students talking about a bomb, so they inspected 16-year-old Victor Vergara's bag where they spotted the suspicious device. When they asked Vergara what it was, he told them it was "a bomb." After the device was removed, the NYPD bomb squad was called in. Sources tell The Post that the rocket was made with less than a foot of PVC and cat littler and probably had the explosive power of a large firecracker. There were also reportedly wires with the rocket/bomb.

It’s said that when Dick Cheney was tasked with vetting potential Veeps for the Bush campaign, he carefully considered all the applicants before recommending the best man for the job: himself. Perhaps tearing a page from Vader’s playbook, Dark Lord Balthazar – AKA Gawker Media Czar Nick Denton – has found the ideal replacement to helm his flagship website in the wake of managing editor Choire Sicha’s resignation: an eager young go-getter from sector 7G named... Nick Denton! (We interviewed Sicha in the midst of all that drama.)

The two men who fell more than 40 stories, when the window washing rig they had just stepped onto collapsed, were brothers. Edgar and Alcides Moreno were Ecuadorians who had come to the U.S. and lived in Linden, NJ. They worked for City Wide Window Cleaning and were regular fixtures at the Solow Tower Apartments building on East 66th St. The brothers were just starting work yesterday morning when they may have stepped on to...

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a severed limb on 55th St. in Brooklyn, a person fatally struck by a train near the East Tremont Station on the 2 line in the Bronx, and an armed robbery on Bradhurst and 147th St. in Manhattan.
• A mother brought her 15-year-old son to the hospital when she discovered him assembling what appeared to be a bomb in their home. The ER at Hoboken University Medical Center was evacuated when it was discovered she'd brought the device with her as well.
• One of Mayor Bloomberg's cars was stolen for the second time in 14 months. The 2001 Lexus, which is used by his ex-wife, was stolen out of a parking garage on East 58th and found in Inwood with a pair of parking tickets and without several bags of presents.
• The man who turned Zabar's into a food retailing phenomena, Murray Klein, died yesterday at the age of 84.
• An interesting preservationist drove his clunker BMW around Brooklyn and into Manhattan this week to publicize a meeting that concerns the possible destruction of Admiral's Row--a series of 150-year-old decrepit homes at the Navy Yard. The giant sign atop his beater Beamer reads "Mayor Moo Moo, you maroon!"
• A construction worker in the Bronx was killed today when a backhoe knocked him into a hole 10 feet deep.
• Racked estimates there were approximately 1,500 people waiting on line in the snow to get into the new Meatpacking Apple store. If you don't like lines, check out our post from yesterday that features many pictures.
• Today is the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

A middle-aged man held several workers hostage at Sen. Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office in the town of Rochester yesterday, before surrendering to police. The alleged bomb he had taped to his chest turned out to be simply a number of road flares. Leeland Eisenberg's motivation for seizing Clinton's field office is unclear, but he appears to be a disturbed individual. The New York Times declined to speculate on Eisenberg's purpose ("[Police] would not discuss...