Posted on 05/01/2010 7:00:18 PM PDT by Steelfish
Times Square Block Shut Down
By SEAN GARDINER and R.M. SCHNEIDERMAN
NYPD closed off streets from 42nd to 47th along Broadway in New York City. Police shut down a block in the heart of Times Square Saturday night after receiving a call about a suspicious car fire, delaying some Broadway shows by more than an hour.
The call came in just after 6:30 and as of 9 p.m., 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues had not been opened. When police initially responded, they saw smoke coming out of the car but no fire.
Dustin Drankoski for the Wall Street Journal NYPD closed off streets from 42nd to 47th along Broadway in New York City. Police said a bomb squad investigation was on the scene and that the car on fire was a sport utility vehicle had license plates that didn't match the make of the car, raising suspicions.
On one of the theater district's busiest nights, some shows, including "The Lion King," were delayed by an hour or more, according to the Broadway World website.
Oprah Winfrey was in attendance of the new hit "Fela," being shown at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on West 49th Street, and the production began on time and wasn't interrupted.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
According to reports, the two officers saw the suspect fumbling with something in the back of the vehicle; he fled when he saw the two officers.
FBI says NOT Terrorism..BUT:
toddstarnes FBI releases statement — says Joint Terrorism Task Force is in Times Square - command post set up.
less than 20 seconds ago via TweetDeck
UPDATED 1:39 AM Police Diffuse Car Bomb In Times Square By: NY1 News
SNIPPET: Police are on the scene in Times Square this morning where authorities say they discovered and are in the process of dismantling a bomb inside an SUV.
The device, made of three propane tanks and two gasoline containers, apparently had a timing device attached to it. It was discovered by a passing New York City Police Department patrolman in a Nissan Pathfinder that was idling with its hazard lights on.
Firefighters were called to the scene at 45th Street and Seventh Avenue, where they discovered a smoking package inside the SUV. Bomb squad officers arrived soon after.
Initially police had received a call of a car fire just after 6 p.m.
There were reports from witnesses of a small explosion by the car, followed by many people running from the scene.
Police evacuated a block of 45th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, and several Broadway theaters and restaurants were cleared of patrons.
Heroic cops stopped a car bomb from blowing up in the heart of Times Square Saturday night, officials told the Daily News.
Two female cops patrolling the area noticed a man fumbling with something in the back of a Nissan SUV parked on the southwest corner of 45th St. and Broadway about 7 p.m. The man saw the officers looking and took off running.
The two cops went to the car and saw smoke, clusters of canisters and heard something fizzing, a source said. The quick-acting cops called for backup, and the bomb squad was on the way as the Crossroads of the World was evacuated.
"It looks as if the perp was trying to light it up, and was interrupted by the cops, panicked and took off," a law enforcement source said.
"It looked like someone tried to detonate it and we got to it in time," another source said. "This is a big deal. It has the makings of a real car bomb."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/05/01/2010-05-01_times_square_evacuated_after_smoking_vehicle_sparks_emergency_probe.html#ixzz0mkY9Wgzy
it’s way too early to have this sorted out. Of course, we’ll get the scrubbed edition of what has happened. The who’s whats and wheres
Lou Palumbo on CNN saying this is the real deal- due to propane etc...
MIRACLE in Times Square by any measure, no one killed or injured. Got lucky. But for the Grace of God. The more info is known the more I think we got lucky.
Here comes the mayor.
NYC presser on now!
FEDS: The Times Square car bomb does NOT appear to be terrorism<<<
They always say that and when I hear it, I think of “Don’t go near the water or you will get wet”.....
But what about #463, where the smoke/fire was noted by *A* passing policeman?
Heroic cops stopped a car bomb from blowing up in the heart of Times Square Saturday night, officials told the Daily News.
How can they be heroic if there’s no terrorism or car bomb?
Query 1 to the SWAT team guys yielded only "We're here to protect you." From what? "Anybody who might be trying to harm you."
Query 2 to a guy in plainclothes who I thought just might be in charge, yielded "We're an anti-terrorist outfit of the NYPD called the Hercules team." But still no information on why they were there. "We deploy at different times at different parts of the city."
Would it have killed them to tell me what was going on at Times Square? I wonder how many other of these teams were sent out.
Mayor Bloomberg: “We are very lucky” paraphrasing.
Of course it’s the real deal..now I am worried about what’s coming next. Was this person just some amateur or was this the work of Al Qaida. Now the reason why I think this might be Al Qaida’s work is because can you imagine having some big time Al Qaida guy sitting on the street lighting up a car..I dont think so..they would come up with something more sophisticated then that and when Al Qaida does something, it works, doesn’t fail like this. Maybe this guy was just some wannabe who looked up online how to make explosives and went for it. Who knows, but Im nervous about what might be coming next..when is the next shoe gonna drop
He said the “T” word.
Re Bloomberg: Is your bow tie supposed to be as big as your head?
Confirmed as a car bomb-IED in so many words!
License plate is from Connecticut and they have talked to the owner of that plate
Nothing about someone running away from the scene.
Some parts of Times Square soon to be re opened..
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