Cuomo: NYS Police Officers, National Guard To Patrol NYC After Chelsea Explosion
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says there was "significant property damage" after an explosion by a busy intersection in Chelsea set off a chain of confusion and fear across New York City.
Cuomo gave an update on the status of the investigation into the explosion at a press conference Sunday morning.
Though there was damage reported, Cuomo says the blasts did not harm the subway system. Cuomo said full service should be restored for the Monday commute, but to check the MTA website for updates and additional mass transit information.
Cuomo said that there is "no reason to believe at this time that there is an immediate threat" to the city, but to "err on the side of caution," the state will be deploying an additional 1,000 New York State Police and National Guard people to police the bus terminals, airports and subway stations.
"I want New Yorkers to be confident when they go back to work on Monday that New York is up and running and that we're doing everything we need to do. And I feel comfortable that this additional deployment will help do that and is prudent on this occasion," Cuomo said.
Cuomo said all 29 people who were injured in the blast have been released from the hospital, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.
According to Cuomo, the FBI has brought evidence from the explosion site to Quantico, Virginia, for analysis, as well as evidence from Saturday's blast in Seaside Park, New Jersey. Cuomo said he wasn't sure if the undetonated device found on West 27th Street had been transferred there.
The governor said the devices found in Chelsea and New Jersey were different, describing the New Jersey explosives as pipe bombs. Cuomo said he is coordinating with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on the investigation.
Speaking in an interview on CNN, Christie said law enforcement officials have some "promising leads" in the Seaside Park investigation, but have not officially named a suspect.
"You don't want to jump to conclusions and you don't want to put information out there that you don't know is absolutely true. And so as I said, we have some promising leads," Christie said. "We are working with the FBI and our state police to follow them."
"But obviously, if you look at a number of these incidents, you can call them whatever you want, they are terrorism though. There is no doubt about that," Christie continued. "They are terrorism. Now, who is responsible is something else and what the motive was is something else that hopefully we are going to find out in the days ahead."
Cuomo acknowledged that though the Chelsea explosion was "an act of terrorism," the incident is "not linked at this stage to international terrorism at this time."
"Whoever did this, we will find and they will be brought to justice," Cuomo tweeted Sunday. "Life will go on in NY as normal. We're not going to let them win."
During a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Mayor Bill de Blasio called the explosion a bombing.
"This was a very serious incident, it's going to take a lot of careful investigation to get to the facts and to the truth," de Blasio said. "We are not going to jump to conclusions."
De Blasio said they do not yet know what the motivation was behind the bombing.
"This was an intentional act, but we do not know the motivation," de Blasio said, adding authorities will be looking into whether it could have been politically or socially motivated.
De Blasio also called on New Yorkers to "be vigilant" and that there will be more police presence in the city.
"You will see a very substantial NYPD presence this week, bigger than ever," de Blasio said
NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill called it a "complex investigation."
"We've recovered video from both scenes and we're continuing to canvass for witnesses and additional video," O'Neill said.
O'Neill said he is "concerned," but added that the person who did this will be brought to justice.
"We are always in a state of readiness," O'Neill said.
O'Neill added, "We're still gathering evidence and we did find some components indicative of an IED."
The second device that was found is currently being investigated by the bomb squad.
There was no structural damage to any buildings in the blast.