The Failed Times Square Bomb: What Do We Know (VIDEO)

The bomb squad at work in Times Square, May 1, 2010
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At around 6:30 p.m. Saturday night, a green 1993 Nissan Pathfinder driving west on 45th street stopped west of Broadway in New York’s Times Square.

T-shirt vendor Lance Orton noticed smoke coming out of the SUV and pointed it out to a police officer. He called backup, the area was evacuated, and the bomb squad came in. While several popping sounds emanated from the SUV, which filled with smoke, the makeshift bomb did not go off.

Here’s what we know about the investigation and what happened:

* The bomb was made up of “three barbecue grill-sized propane tanks, two 5-gallon gasoline containers, store-bought fireworks and cheap alarm clocks attached to wires,” the AP [reports](http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9FF15O00&show_article=1). There was also a heavy metal rifle cabinet packed with fertilizer, weighing 200 to 250 pounds in all according to police, who also say the fertilizer was *nonexplosive* grade.

* Police Commissioner Ray Kelly [said](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/nyregion/03timessquare.html) that if it had gone off, the bomb “would have caused casualties, a significant fireball,” according to the *New York Times*.

* The NYPD released about 20 seconds worth of surveillance video that shows a white man taking off an outer shirt or sweater and putting it in a bag about a half a block from where the SUV with the bomb was left Saturday.

* On Good Morning America Monday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg [said](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100503/ap_on_re_us/us_times_square_car_bomb) of the man in the video, “maybe he had something to do with it but there’s a very good chance that he did not. We’re exploring a lot of leads.”

* There are 82 police surveillance cameras in the area under review by authorities, who are also seeking to get footage from private cameras, the *Wall Street Journal* [reports](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575220603913685916.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories).

* Police plan to release another video, taken by a tourist, in which the same man is seen running north on Broadway, Kelly [told](http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/03/new.york.car.bomb/?hpt=Sbin) CNN Monday morning.

* Police were able to find the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on the engine block of the SUV — even though it had been obliterated in at least one other place on the vehicle — and thus identify the registered owner of the Pathfinder, *Newsweek* [reports](http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/05/02/cops-say-neither-license-plates-nor-vin-on-bomb-suv-were-reported-stolen.aspx). An unnamed law enforcement official told the magazine that the VIN was not reported stolen, nor was the Connecticut license plate — registered with a different vehicle — attached to the SUV.

* The plates on the SUV were traced to a truck at Kramer’s Used Auto Parts in Stratford, CT. The junkyard’s owner, Wayne LeBlanc, was visited by FBI agents late Saturday night. He [tells](http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/05/03/2010-05-03_plate_led_fbi_to_his_junkyard.html) the *Daily News* that the “truck had plates on it when it was brought in for repairs three weeks ago.” And he [tells](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/nyregion/03timessquare.html?hp=&pagewanted=all) the *Times* that agents took away a black Ford F-150.

* A Times Square vendor, Duane Jackson, who looked on the vehicle saw keys in the ignition with about 20 keys on a ring, the AP [reports](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100502/ap_on_re_us/us_times_square_car_bomb).

* A Pakistani Taliban leader, Qari Hussain Mehsud, [claimed credit](http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/05/pakistani_taliban_cl.php) for the Times Square bombing in a YouTube video released over the weekend but since pulled down, the Long War Journal reported. But Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says there is “no evidence” to back the claim, Bloomberg [reports](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aQCimhTDNzlQ).

* An unnamed Pakistani intelligence official [discounted](http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20003947-503543.html?tag=stack) the Taliban claim in an interview with CBS.

* Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano [said](http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0510/Napolitano_Times_Sq_car_bomb_potential_terrorist_attack.html?showall) Sunday morning on CNN that “[w]e are treating it as if it could be a potential terrorist attack.” Watch:

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