NYC deadly car bomb

[Nelson Muntz]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36892505/ns/us_news-security/

Cops quiz SUV owner after failed bomb
Investigators also looking for man seen on security video in Times Square

NEW YORK - A law enforcement official says the registered owner of an SUV used in a botched bombing in Times Square told investigators he sold it for cash three weeks ago.

The official tells The Associated Press that the Connecticut owner questioned Sunday about what happened to the SUV says he sold the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder to a stranger.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to the AP on Monday because the investigation is at a sensitive stage.
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Investigators interviewed the last owner on record of the vehicle in a probe of a failed bombing that cleared several streets around Times Square of thousands of tourists on a busy Saturday night.

Officials say the owner, whose name has not been released, is not considered a suspect.

'Significant fireball'
Police said the crude gasoline-and-propane bomb discovered on Saturday at Times Square could have produced "a significant fireball" and sprayed shrapnel and metal parts with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows. The SUV was parked on one of America's busiest streets, lined with Broadway theaters and restaurants and full of people out on a Saturday night.

The area bounced back quickly and had returned to its normal bustle on a rainy Monday morning.

Police released a photograph of the SUV as it crossed an intersection at 6:28 p.m. (2228 GMT) Saturday. A handbag vendor pointed out the SUV to an officer about two minutes later.

President Barack Obama on Monday telephoned the vendor, Duane Jackson, 58, of Buchanan, New York, to commend him for alerting authorities to the smoking SUV. The White House said Obama thanked Jackson for his vigilance and for acting quickly to prevent serious trouble.

On Sunday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took NYPD officer Wayne Rhatigan of the mounted police force out for a steak dinner a few blocks from the bombing attempt. Rhatigan had quickly moved tourists out of the way when he was told of the smoking SUV.

Paul Browne, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for public information, said officials were still looking for the driver.

Looking for man in videotape
The vehicle identification number on the 1993 dark-colored Nissan Pathfinder had been removed from the dashboard, but it was stamped on the engine and axle. Its license plates came from a car found in a Connecticut repair shop.

Investigators were also looking Monday to speak with a man in his 40s videotaped shedding his shirt near the sport utility vehicle where the bomb was found.

Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters Monday that investigators had some good leads in addition to the videotape.

He said it was too early in the probe to say whether the incident was of foreign or domestic origin, or to designate it as a terrorist incident, but he did say that those behind the act "intended to spread terror across New York."

Police said they'll be releasing more video of people seen acting suspiciously in and around Times Square, including footage, taken by a tourist, of a man running away from the scene, heading north.

Police told NBC News that it would be incorrect to characterize the people, including the man shown changing his shirt, as "suspects." They were sought for questioning, a spokesman said.

Police found the "amateurish" but potentially powerful bomb in a smoking SUV in the busy theater district Saturday night after being alerted by two street vendors, then cleared the streets of thousands of tourists so they could dismantle it.

'Mayhem'
The Pathfinder contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components, police said. Timers were connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks that were apparently intended to set the gas cans afire, then ignite the three barbecue-grill-sized propane tanks.

Commissioner Kelly said it was "the intent of whoever did this to cause mayhem, create casualties."

Police also found eight bags weighing more than 100 pounds of a substance that turned out to be fertilizer that was incapable of exploding.

Image: Alarm clock found in SUV
AP
This still photo released by the New York City Police Department on Sunday shows one of the alarm clocks found in the Nissan Pathfinder that was used in the attempted attack on Times Square.
Police spokesman Paul Browne said that unlike the ammonium nitrate grade fertilizer that has been used in terror attacks including the Oklahoma City bombing, this fertilizer would not have caused a massive explosion.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said on NBC's "Today" show on Monday that no suspects or theories had been ruled out. "Right now, every lead has to be pursued," she said.

And investigators had not ruled out a range of possible motives. The Pakistani Taliban appeared to claim responsibility for the car bomb in three videos that surfaced after the weekend scare, monitoring groups said. New York officials said police have no evidence to support the claims.

Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said Monday on Fox News that there was no intelligence chatter before Saturday, making a foreign connection unlikely.

The SUV was parked near offices of Viacom Inc., which owns Comedy Central. The network recently aired an episode of the animated show "South Park" that the group Revolution Muslim had complained insulted the Prophet Muhammad by depicting him in a bear costume.

Bloomberg cautioned that the man on the tape may not become a suspect but urged him to come forward.

"He may or may not have been involved," he said, adding it was a hot day and he might simply have been trying to cool off.

'Go over there and grab that officer'
   
Video
  A lot of leads'
May 3: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg discusses with TODAY's Matt Lauer video that shows a man switching his shirt around the time of the Times Square bomb scare.

Today show
T-shirt vendor and Vietnam veteran Lance Orton said he alerted a mounted policeman when he noticed smoke coming from a parked SUV.

"People take it lightly," Orton said on NBC's TODAY show. "I've had a few situations where I've told people about things; they say, 'That's nothing.' But you can't take that attitude."

One of Orton's helpers suggested calling 911. Orton said he pointed at mounted police Officer Wayne Rhatigan, who was on duty in Times Square.

"There's a patrolman right there on the horse. I asked one of my guys, 'Go over there and grab that officer,' " Orton recalled. "He came over on horseback. He saw what I did. It was steadily getting worse."

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After the vendors noticed the SUV, police cleared buildings and streets at the so-called "Crossroads of the World." Officers were deployed around the area with heavy weapons on empty streets in the heart of busy midtown Manhattan.

A white robotic police arm then broke the windows of the vehicle to remove any explosive devices.

While he called the device "amateurish," Bloomberg said it could have been deadly.

"We are very lucky," he said.

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