Bloomberg’s 2am Press Conf. On Times Sq. Car Bomb: ‘We’re Very Lucky’

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by Glynnis MacNicol | 9:41 am, May 2nd, 2010

» 11 comments

Mayor Bloomberg held a press conference at 2am this morning to address last night’s bomb scare in Times Sq. Dressed in a bow tie and tux –he’d apparently been whisked away from some event [the WHCD?] by the scare — he was joined at the podium by Gov. Paterson and City Speaker Christine Quinn. Said Bloomberg: “We are very lucky. Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers we avoided what could have been a very deadly event.” No kidding.

Here’s what we know so far about the attempted bombing from this morning’s New York Times.

At 6:28 p.m., Mr. Kelly said, a video surveillance camera recorded what was believed to be the dark green Nissan S.U.V. driving west on 45th Street. Moments later, a T-shirt vendor [who, according to Bloomberg is a Vietman veteran] on the sidewalk saw smoke coming out of vents near the back seat of the S.U.V., which was now parked awkwardly at the curb with its engine running and its hazard lights on.

That t-shirt vendor notified Officer Rhatigan of the mounted police and his horse Miggs, who then investigated and called in members of the NYPD’s bomb squad.

Members of the Police Department’s bomb squad donned protective gear, broke the Pathfinder’s back windows and sent in a “robotic device” to “observe” it, said Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the police department’s chief spokesman. Inside, they discovered three canisters of propane like those used for barbecue grills, two five-gallon cans of gasoline, consumer-grade fireworks — the apparent source of the “pops” — and two clocks with batteries, the mayor said. He said the device “looked amateurish.”

Mr. Browne said: “It appeared it was in the process of detonating, but it malfunctioned.”

Maybe somewhat comforting to note that if the bomb had gone off the result would have been “more of an incendiary event.” At this point, says the Mayor, “we have no idea who did this or why.” Obviously, they are investigating. Video of the presser below. Last word goes to the vendor, who apparently has little use for the press: “See something, say something.” Lesson? Be nice to your vendors, they may end up saving your life.

Mayor Bloomberg, Times Square Car Bomb

MarkStr82Hell

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MSNBC KEEPS SHOWING THE RACHEL MADCOW TIMOTHY MCVEIGH SPECIAL. IT’S CLEARLY COPYCAT BEHAVIOR. STOP THE MEDIA INDUCED PSYCHOSIS.
JunkJunk

Dear MarkStr82Hell,

Please stop yelling. Thank you.

Sincerely,

The Internets
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

The question has to be asked — was this a domestic and homegrown terrorist of the right wing stripe? Or was it a Islamic terrorist of the Al Qaeda type? There’s about a nickel’s difference between them these days.
Grammie

Bill Adkins says:
May 2, 2010 at 11:43 am

Why so restricted in your thinking? You would not want anyone to think that you were not a true liberal with an open mind that carefully weighs all possibilities and consequences before shooting your mouth….oh wait.

Perhaps it is a lefty Unabomber type, or could be a lefty Greenie, maybe even a PETA type after a mounted officer. There are so many crazy folks out there whose craziness is manifested in their political life why stop at just one?
Grammie

JunkJunk, I recognize your name from a site that I frequently peruse. So, are you saying that Mark and Karl are both the same commenter and if so, what name other than these two did he use?
timzank

Grammie, with Adkins it’s all rather simple. All things bad on the face of the Earth are directly related to conservatives. Period. No margin for error in his mind (the land of unicorns)
MarkStr82Hell

This website is SO mismanaged. These constant spamers like above are ruining ALL credibility. This has to be stopped.
Grammie, I am not Karl. Karl is a socialist who frequently mocks moderates and conservatives.
I aplogize for capitolizing (yelling) previously.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Bill-Adkins/1585417987 Bill Adkins

“Grammie says:
May 2, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Bill Adkins says:
May 2, 2010 at 11:43 am

Why so restricted in your thinking? You would not want anyone to think that you were not a true liberal with an open mind that carefully weighs all possibilities and consequences before shooting your mouth….oh wait.”

Not restricted in my thinking, grammie – simply looking at the record, Stack to Pentagon to Holocaust Museum to Kristalnacht imitators to tri-corner hats on too tight — it’s that possibility that I referenced the right wing that offended you, wasn’t it? You’re ok with the jumping to the conclusion that it was AQ? As to your unabomber reference, is he a leftie? I think he’d be at home at your tea party.
germ

As a person who worked exclusively on Improvised Explosive Devices while in Iraq (which had a lot of outside influences for their devices), it sounds from the description of the device that it was a domestic terrorist.

Unfortunately, you can’t start flaming one side or the other until we find out who planted the device. All we know is that whomever planted the device was deeply troubled and crazy.
felixw

The Taliban is claiming responsibility. But we know that it really must have been one of those teabaggers. Heck, the teabaggers have a much longer history of violence than the Taliban. I know because I saw it on the Rachel Maddow show.
writer

Bill Adkins is still insisting that the registered Democrat who flew into the IRS building was a tea partier. Even if the NYC bomb turns out to have been planted by bin Laden himself, Adkins will somehow link it back to Glenn Beck.