Bomb Explodes at Port Authority in New York

Using a crude device, a suicide bomber tried to blow up parts of the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal Monday morning, but the bomb went off early — injuring the suspect.

The 27-year-old suspect is now in custody, according to reports. He was carrying ID indicating his name is Akayed Ullah. He has apparently been in this country for seven years.

Four officers helped take the suspect down and apprehend him, according to news reports this morning.

Bill Bratton, former police commissioner of New York City, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” the man is possibly from Bangladesh and lives in Brooklyn.

The device partially exploded inside the passageway to three trains at 8th Avenue and West 42nd Street at about 7:40 a.m., the New York Post reported.

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Trains and buses were bypassing the stop in the immediate aftermath, the Post reported.

The suspect told police he made the device at the electrical company where he works, according to the Post. New York City Police told reporters a secondary device was also involved, but it didn’t detonate, police told reporters.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a news conference this morning that the incident was “an attempted terrorist attack.” He said there were no known additional threats at the moment, but said, “Let’s face it. This is New York and we are a target.”

President Donald Trump has not tweeted as of yet about the incident and the White House press office has not released a statement, though the president has been briefed on the situation, according to a tweet from Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House press secretary.

“We are New Yorkers. We don’t live in fear,” said James O’Neill, New York City’s police commissioner, at 9:45 a.m. this morning to reporters.

“The reality is that New York, after Washington, is perhaps one of the most attractive targets for terrorists, especially jihadis,” said Sebastian Gorka, a former terrorism adviser to President Donald Trump, speaking Monday morning on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”

“They have also stated in their al-Qaida publications and their ISIS publications that they want their adherents to specifically attack the highest possible concentration of unarmed civilians,” Gorka told guest host Raymond Arroyo. “So the Port Authority is a perfect potential target.”

“The reality is that New York, after Washington, is perhaps one of the most attractive targets for terrorists, especially jihadis,” said Sebastian Gorka, a former terrorism adviser to President Donald Trump, speaking on “The Laura Ingraham Show.”

Gorka said such terrorists seem to be lone actors, or lone wolves, but they are not.

“We have to dispose of this idea of lone wolf terrorism,” he added. “There is no such thing as lone wolf terrorism. It really is a concept that was propagated by the Obama administration to make Americans disconnect the dots.”

Three additional individuals apparently had minor injuries after the blast and took themselves to area hospitals.

Late Monday afternoon, President Trump linked the attack to “chain migration,” when immigrants can bring extended family members into the United States.

“First and foremost, as I have been saying since I first announced my candidacy for president, America must fix its lax immigration system, which allows far too many dangerous, inadequately vetted people to access our country,” Trump said in a statement. “Today’s terror suspect entered our country through extended-family chain migration, which is incompatible with national security … Congress must end chain migration.”

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Ullah came to the U.S. in a chain migration process.

PoliZette White House writer Jim Stinson can be reached at [email protected]. This story has been updated.