Man Accused Of Setting Off Explosion Inside Brooklyn Apartment Building, Then Smashing Cars Outside
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Police are searching for a man who allegedly set off an explosive device inside a Brooklyn apartment building and then vandalized cars outside.
Residents were shaken by a loud explosion around 7:45 a.m. on Madison Street near Marcus Garvey Boulevard in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
"It sounded like an M80. At first, I thought police were in the building," one witness told CBS2.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez visited the scene to see the damage for himself.
"It appears to be a commercial grade firework. Fairly destructive, but not a bomb," he said.
Gonzalez said the suspect does not live in the building but is known to the family that lives inside.
"There's video of the incident. You can see him light the explosive device. It blows out the windows, it damages an interior door, it blows in the door of an unrelated victim in the case," he said.
Before taking off, authorities said the suspect smashed the windows of more than a dozen cars.
"For him to do that, it shocked me, because he is not that type of person, as far as I know," said the witness.
The suspect is still on the run, but authorities say they know who they're looking for.
Law enforcement has a heightened sensitivity because of 9/11, but authorities say this was a domestic issue.