NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — A witness described hearing a “boom” Monday after police said a man detonated a crude improvised device near the Port Authority Bus Terminal during morning rush.
It happened around 7:19 a.m. in an underground walkway between Times Square and the bus terminal subway stations in the area of 42nd Street between 7th and 8th avenues.
Christina Bethea was starting off her week rushing to work when she said the device exploded about 50 feet from her.
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“To me it sounded more like a loud gunshot, like ‘boom’ and it was over. Then smoke came and I ran upstairs. I don’t know what happened after that,” she told 1010 WINS’ Glenn Schuck. “When you hear ‘boom,’ smoke, that means get the hell out of there. That’s what I did.”
The 29-year-old from Yonkers, who was unhurt in the blast but shaken, decided not to go to work as a security guard and instead will spend time with friends in Harlem to calm her nerves.
The explosion triggered a massive response by police and firefighters both above and below ground, tangling subway and bus service.
“What are people thinking? You got crazy people walking around,” a man named Justin told WCBS 880’s Alex Silverman.
Elrana Peralta, a customer service worker for Greyhound, said she works in the Port Authority terminal complex near where the blast happened, but didn’t hear the explosion.
“All we could hear was the chaos,” she said. “We could hear people yelling, ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!'”
John Miles, 28, from Vermont, was waiting for a bus to Massachusetts. He also didn’t hear the blast, but saw police react.
“I didn’t know what was going on. Officers were running around. I was freaking out,” he said. There was an announcement that people should take their bags and leave. “They didn’t incite panic. It was fairly orderly.”
At least three people were hurt in the explosion that Police Commissioner James O’Neill called “terror-related.”
Speaking at a news conference, O’Neill identified the suspect as 27-year-old Akayed Ullah.
Police said he had a crude improvised device attached to his body using Velcro and zip ties and said video shows him walking down the passageway when the device exploded.
O’Neill said by the time officers arrived, they found Ullah with burns and wounds to his body. He was taken into custody and transported the hospital.
Police asked anyone with information about the incident to call the Terror Hotline at 888-NYC-SAFE.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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