Multiple People Injured After Explosion in New York City (UPDATED)

Ken MeyerSep 17th, 2016, 9:44 pm
 

The NYPD is active in Chelsea, New York tonight due to an explosion that has reportedly injured multiple people.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. on Saturday night, the explosion went off inside a dumpster at around 135 23rd St. between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Emergency services have been deployed to the area, with reports and online conversation indicating that approximately 25 people have been injured.

The explosion comes hours after a previous incident where a pipe bomb went off at a New Jersey charity run. So far, there have not been any confirmed casualties.

First responders have the area on lockdown, with the explosion site being cordoned off as investigations get underway. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has offered an initial response to the news.

UPDATE – 9:56 p.m. ET: Fox interviewed an eyewitness to the explosion.

Police are continuing to search for any secondary devices that might have been armed in the nearby area.

Watch a live-stream from Chelsea here:

UPDATE – 10:17 p.m. ET: CNN is reporting that the explosion might have been caused by an improvised explosive device:

UPDATE – 10:33 p.m. ET: NYPD Counter-terrorism Chief James Waters issued this tweet on the current situation.

UPDATE – 11:11 p.m. ET: Police might have located a second explosive device.

UPDATE – 11:20 p.m. ET: A purported video of the explosion has emerged.

UPDATE – 11:35 p.m. ET: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and several high-ranking members of the NYPD held a presser from Chelsea, where they gave details about the investigation.

The mayor stated that the explosion was “intentional,” but that it is too early to call it an act of terrorism, or connect it to the incident in New Jersey. The police commissioner stated that 29 people were injured in total, that none of the injuries are life-threatening, and there is no evidence of a credible threat to the city.

UPDATE – 11:42 p.m. ET: After concluding an event tonight with the Congressional Black Caucus, Hillary Clinton spoke with reporters about the explosion. As she spoke, Clinton was asked about how the explosion could affect the race, as well as her response to Trump preemptively calling the blast a bomb attack:

UPDATE – 12:10 a.m. ET: Various reporters are stating that a pressure cooker has been discovered, which might be a second explosive device:

UPDATE – 12:42 a.m. ET: The second device has been confirmed as a pressure cooker explosive, and it is connected to a a wired cell phone:

UPDATE – 8:08 a.m. ET: President Obama has been briefed on the explosion.

Street closures have continued into this morning, WNBC reports, and as of now, while authorities have not yet ruled the explosion was an act of terrorism, it has not been ruled out yet.

UPDATE – 9:06 a.m. ET: Bellevue says that all 11 patients they received have been released:

[image via screengrab]

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