Times Square Rattled by Small Bomb

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Though it’s been almost seven years since the 9/11 attacks, New Yorkers are still a bit shaky when they hear an explosion.

The bomb that went off in the early hours of Thursday morning was no exception.

A small explosive device was planted at the armed forces recruiting station on a traffic island in the middle of Times Square, and left a shattered front window and minor damage when it exploded shortly before 4:00 a.m..

But nearby residents feel a bit shaken all the same. "I thought it could have been thunder, [but] I looked down and there was a massive plume of smoke," said Terry Leighton, 49, a British man staying at the Marriott Marquis Hotel four blocks away. Leighton was staying on the 21st floor of the building.

While the recruiting station has been a popular location for numerous anti-war protests over the years, this is the first occasion in which any real violence had been used.

A security camera is said to have captured footage of a person on a bicycle, wearing a hood, in the immediate vicinity of the bombing moments before the explosion, which witnesses have corroborated. A brand new bicycle was found in a trash dumpster nearby.

The incident is being compared to two similar crimes committed in the past few years, both at consulate buildings. Last October, a dummy grenade filled with gunpowder was lobbed over the fence of the Mexican consulate, causing an explosion. That crime was compared to a very similar incident two years earlier at the British consulate.

There are similarities to the recent bombing. All three were committed in the hours between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning, and the suspects were said to have been on bicycles. However, the bombing at Times Square did not employ a dummy grenade, but an ammunition box. FBI detectives are still completing their investigation of the crime scene.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared at a press conference and excoriated the person who committed the crime, saying, "Whoever the coward was that committed this disgraceful act on our city will be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We will not tolerate such attacks." Bloomberg added that the bombing "…insults every one of our brave men and women in uniform stationed around the world."

The recruiters at the Times Square station were temporarily relocated to a Union Square location, and recruiting stations across the country were given warnings to be extra cautious. So far no other attacks have been reported.

No one was in the building at the time of the attack, and there were no reported injuries. However, police chief Raymond Kelly told reporters that even though the bomb was a simple device, it could easily have caused serious injuries or death.