The suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing had intended to drive to New York to detonate their remaining explosive devices in Times Square, New York City officials said on Thursday.
The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said at a news conference that the suspects still had five pipe bombs and another device, similar to the pressure-cooker bomb used in the marathon attacks, that they intended to use. But their plan was foiled, Mr. Kelly said, because the vehicle they had carjacked did not have enough gas to reach New York. When the suspects stopped for fuel, the carjacking victim escaped and the police were notified.
Mr. Kelly said that the plan to bomb New York was spontaneous, and that he was not aware if there were any further details of the plan. He and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said they were not aware of any other terrorist threat against New York that stemmed from the attacks in Boston.
“Last evening, we learned through the Joint Terrorism Task Force that the Boston Marathon bombers had planned to travel to Manhattan to detonate their remaining bombs in Times Square,” Mr. Kelly said.
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the terror suspect who was captured alive, initially told investigators that he and his brother decided after the Boston bombings that they would go to New York City to party,” Mr. Kelly said. “However, a subsequent questioning of Dzhokhar revealed that he and his brother decided spontaneously on Times Square as a target.”
Mr. Kelly said the information about a “party” appeared to have come from an interrogation of Mr. Tsarnaev on Saturday. That changed during an interrogation that began on Sunday evening, Mr. Kelly said, during which he discussed the last-minute plan for an attack.
While the mayor said the F.B.I. had informed New York authorities that Mr. Tsarnaev told federal investigators that New York City was next on their list of targets, several federal law enforcement officials played down that notion, saying Mr. Tsarnaev’s statements made it clear that his discussions with his brother, Tamerlan, were far shy of any sort of plan.
One federal official, while noting there was no question that the two men were extremely dangerous, characterized the discussion that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reported as having had with his brother in the carjacked Mercedes “as a stream of consciousness as opposed to, ‘Bomb Boston, then bomb New York.'”
“How this thing flows is they hijack the car, they get $700 from this guy, and basically, they have gas money, and they say, ‘Now we can go to New York and use the rest of the explosives,'” the official said.
A short time after the carjacking victim escaped, the brothers were spotted by the police. In the ensuing confrontation, the brothers threw some of the explosive devices at the police and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed.
Another official said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had told federal investigators that in talking about what to do next, and what to do with their remaining devices, they discussed the idea of going to New York.
“This is from two guys who didn’t plan for an escape, and attempted to do so only when their pictures were plastered all over the place, and they didn’t do a very effective job of making that escape,” the official said.
At the mayor’s news conference with Commissioner Kelly, Mr. Bloomberg said they were passing along information from federal agencies and Boston authorities. “Keep in mind, we didn’t interrogate the suspect ourselves,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Bloomberg pivoted from describing Mr. Tsarnaev’s comments about New York to emphasizing the city’s continuing need for federal funds to support the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism efforts. “Homeland security funding should be based on threat, and threat alone, and not pork barrel politics,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “The fact is, New York City remains a prime target for those who hate America and want to kill Americans.”
The Boston attacks “and the news that New York City was next on the terrorist list shows just how critical it is for the federal government to devote resources to high-risk areas,” he said.
The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said at a news conference that the suspects still had five pipe bombs and another device, similar to the pressure-cooker bomb used in the marathon attacks, that they intended to use. But their plan was foiled, Mr. Kelly said, because the vehicle they had carjacked did not have enough gas to reach New York. When the suspects stopped for fuel, the carjacking victim escaped and the police were notified.
Mr. Kelly said that the plan to bomb New York was spontaneous, and that he was not aware if there were any further details of the plan. He and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said they were not aware of any other terrorist threat against New York that stemmed from the attacks in Boston.
“Last evening, we learned through the Joint Terrorism Task Force that the Boston Marathon bombers had planned to travel to Manhattan to detonate their remaining bombs in Times Square,” Mr. Kelly said.
“Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the terror suspect who was captured alive, initially told investigators that he and his brother decided after the Boston bombings that they would go to New York City to party,” Mr. Kelly said. “However, a subsequent questioning of Dzhokhar revealed that he and his brother decided spontaneously on Times Square as a target.”
Mr. Kelly said the information about a “party” appeared to have come from an interrogation of Mr. Tsarnaev on Saturday. That changed during an interrogation that began on Sunday evening, Mr. Kelly said, during which he discussed the last-minute plan for an attack.
While the mayor said the F.B.I. had informed New York authorities that Mr. Tsarnaev told federal investigators that New York City was next on their list of targets, several federal law enforcement officials played down that notion, saying Mr. Tsarnaev’s statements made it clear that his discussions with his brother, Tamerlan, were far shy of any sort of plan.
One federal official, while noting there was no question that the two men were extremely dangerous, characterized the discussion that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reported as having had with his brother in the carjacked Mercedes “as a stream of consciousness as opposed to, ‘Bomb Boston, then bomb New York.'”
“How this thing flows is they hijack the car, they get $700 from this guy, and basically, they have gas money, and they say, ‘Now we can go to New York and use the rest of the explosives,'” the official said.
A short time after the carjacking victim escaped, the brothers were spotted by the police. In the ensuing confrontation, the brothers threw some of the explosive devices at the police and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was killed.
Another official said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had told federal investigators that in talking about what to do next, and what to do with their remaining devices, they discussed the idea of going to New York.
“This is from two guys who didn’t plan for an escape, and attempted to do so only when their pictures were plastered all over the place, and they didn’t do a very effective job of making that escape,” the official said.
At the mayor’s news conference with Commissioner Kelly, Mr. Bloomberg said they were passing along information from federal agencies and Boston authorities. “Keep in mind, we didn’t interrogate the suspect ourselves,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Bloomberg pivoted from describing Mr. Tsarnaev’s comments about New York to emphasizing the city’s continuing need for federal funds to support the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism efforts. “Homeland security funding should be based on threat, and threat alone, and not pork barrel politics,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “The fact is, New York City remains a prime target for those who hate America and want to kill Americans.”
The Boston attacks “and the news that New York City was next on the terrorist list shows just how critical it is for the federal government to devote resources to high-risk areas,” he said.