Police evacuated buildings and cleared streets of thousands of tourists around New York City’s Times Square on Saturday after finding an apparent car bomb in a parked SUV.
New York City police said a mounted police officer noticed smoke coming from the SUV at 6:30 p.m. A law enforcement official tolds The Associated Press that bomb investigators found propane tanks, powder and an apparent timing device inside the vehicle.
There’ll be plenty of time for the inevitable peremptory finger-pointing and political maneuvering. For now, let’s just be glad this didn’t happen.
P.S. Let’s hear it for the NYPD:
Two female cops patrolling the area noticed a man fumbling with something in the back of a Nissan SUV parked on the southwest corner of 45th St. and Broadway about 7 p.m. The man saw the officers looking and took off running.
The two cops went to the car and saw smoke, clusters of canisters and heard something fizzing, a source said. The quick-acting cops called for backup, and the bomb squad was on the way as the Crossroads of the World was evacuated.