NYPD: Traces of TATP explosive found in Central Park explosion
NEW YORK -- Police officials say they have identified "traces of substances" in the blast in New York City's Central Park earlier this month that seriously injured a man who stepped on it, CBS New York reported.
A law enforcement source told CBS News that NYPD lab results have come back with traces of TATP in the explosion. TATP contains triacetone triperoxide, which can be assembled with household chemicals.
CBS New York previously reported that Connor Golden, 18, of Fairfax, Virginia, was walking with two friends in early July when he climbed down a rock and stepped on some sort of homemade device, triggering the explosion. Connor lost part of one leg in the incident.
"The next call from my son, Connor's father, is that his leg from his knee down would have to be amputated," Connor's grandmother Roberta Golden said. "His life will never be the same and I am very sad about that."
NYPD officials said that everything used in the explosion could have been bought at a local hardware store. When combined they "could create an explosion."
It is not clear the motive behind the explosion, or who was responsible. Police previously said there is no evidence the incident was related to terrorism.
TATP, which a source said the explosion had traces of, is easy to make, CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave previously reported.
In the raid on the Brussels bombing suspects' apartment, police found a homemade explosive called TATP.
Terrorists like it because it's made with household chemicals, like nail polish remover, ingredients that don't raise suspicion when they're purchased.
In 2001, Richard Reid used an improvised shoe bomb rigged with TATP, when he tried to board an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami and blow it up over the Atlantic. Reid was subdued by passengers when he tried to detonate the explosive. He pleaded guilty to U.S. charges and is serving a life sentence.
A former airport shuttle driver accused of buying beauty supplies to make bombs for an attack on New York City subways pleaded guilty in 2010, admitting he agreed to conduct an al Qaeda-led "martyrdom plan" because of U.S. involvement in his native Afghanistan.
Among other things, Zazi admitted that he brought the explosive TATP to New York on Sept. 10, 2009, as part of plan to attack the subway system.