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Thwarted Attack

Local woman alerted police to clue that eventually led to arrest of bombing suspect

September 20, 2016

Not long after a bomb exploded on Saturday night in Manhattan, photographer Jane Schreibman found a second device planted near her apartment building on 27th street — just four blocks from the site of the first attack.

When Schreibman heard that a bomb had gone off in her neighborhood, she ran outside to see what had happened. Just a few steps from her building’s front door, she spotted a metal pressure cooker rigged with wires.

In an interview with CNN, Schreibman said she initially thought the device was “something a kid was making,” or “an artist’s kinetic sculpture.” She continued to the site of the explosion, but could not shake the “lagging suspicion” that “this was a little weird.” When Schreibman returned to her apartment and saw that the pressure cooker was still there, she decided to call 911.

When detectives arrived on the scene, they reportedly told Schreibman, “Run, get off the block!”

Police removed the bomb, and no one was hurt.

The device was originally hidden inside a rolling suitcase. Investigators believe that two young men inadvertently disabled the bomb when they took it out from the suitcase so they could steal the bag.

Watch Schreibman describe her frightening discovery here:



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