N.J., NYC bombing suspect will make court appearance from hospital bed
ELIZABETH, N.J. -- A man accused of setting off bombs in New Jersey and New York is due to be arraigned on charges he tried to kill police officers.
Prosecutors sayAhmad Khan Rahami’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rahami is due to take part via video from his hospital bed.
Rahami is an Afghan-born U.S. citizen. He’s hospitalized with gunshot wounds after a police shootout that led to his capture Sept. 19 outside a bar in Linden. He’s charged with five counts of attempted murder of a police officer.
His public defenders have a policy of not commenting on cases.
Rahami is accused of detonating a pipe bomb in a New Jersey shore town and a pressure cooker bomb in New York City on Sept. 17, injuring 31 people.
In a bloodied journal recovered by investigators, Rahami made references to Osama bin Laden, American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and former Army officer Nidal Hasan, who went on a shooting rampage in Ford Hood, Texas, according to a federal complaint.
Rahami’s friends and family have told investigators he changed after a year-long trip to Afghanistan in 2014. They said he became more religious and started distancing himself.
In one section, the complaint says, Rahami wrote: “Death to your oppression.”
Investigators are also still trying to determine whether Rahami conspired with someone else to carry out the attack. On the day of the bombings in Seaside Park, New Jersey and Chelsea, investigators believe the 28-year-old covered a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time, suggesting that there may have been someone helping him.