President Obama said that the government sees “no connection” among separate weekend attacks in New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota that left dozens wounded, as authorities apprehended an individual Monday morning in connection to the bombing-related incidents in the Northeast.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, was taken into custody following a shootout with law enforcement in Linden, N.J., two days after 22-year-old Dahir A. Adan, who stabbed nine people in a Minnesota mall, was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer.
“While all this is going in New York and New Jersey, we’re also focused on the stabbing attack at the shopping mall in Minnesota. At this point, we see no connection between that incident and what happened in New York and New Jersey. Our attention there is on the people who were injured,” Obama said in a statement to reporters in New York City.
Investigators believe that Rahami, a naturalized citizen of Afghani descent, was caughton surveillance video dragging a duffel bag near the site of a bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan that left 29 people hurt on Saturday. He was wanted for questioning about the matter, as well as a similar explosion near a Marine Corps charity run in Seaside Park, N.J., which caused no injuries.
Obama said Monday morning that Adan’s assault was being investigated as a potential act of terrorism. ISIS-linked media claimed credit for the Minnesota violence.
The president cautioned the media to “refrain from getting out ahead of the investigation.”
“I am extraordinarily happy with the cooperation that’s been taking place between the FBI and State and local law enforcement officials. They are moving smartly on this investigation. It does not help if false reports or incomplete information is out there,” he said. “So try to, as much as possible, stick to what our investigators say, because they actually know what they’re talking about.”
