Video May Hold Clues in Times Square Bomb Scare

(May 2) -- New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly dismissed a militant group's claim of responsibility for the averted car bombing in Times Square and said law enforcement officials are concentrating on sifting through surveillance video that captures the vehicle at the scene and a man spotted nearby acting "furtively."

"Although a Taliban bomb maker has claimed on the Internet that the car bomb was placed in Times Square to avenge the deaths of mujahedeen fighters, we have no evidence to support this claim," Kelly said at a news conference today.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the failed bomb attempt on an Islamist website, saying it was avenging the deaths of two of its leaders and "Muslim martyrs."

Kelly said detectives are focusing on potential video evidence, including footage of a white man in his 40s changing his shirt near an alley close to the corner of 45th Street and Broadway, where a Nissan Pathfinder packed with explosives was left idling at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

"He was seen shedding a dark colored shirt, revealing a red one underneath," Kelly said, later adding that the man put the dark shirt into a bag and continued walking south, "looking around a couple of times in a furtive manner."

Kelly said NYPD officials would release the video of the man to the public.

"It could be perfectly innocent," he said. "We're asking perhaps that individual to come forward or perhaps with anyone information on that individual."

Detectives are also looking into an e-mail sent to a local news organization, in which an individual claims responsibility for the failed attack, and examining video taken by a tourist from Pennsylvania that may show a man acting suspiciously near the Pathfinder.

No suspects were in custody in the wake of the incident, but Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the federal government has pledged its assistance to New York in what it perceives to be an act of attempted terrorism.

"We're taking this very seriously," Napolitano told CNN's "State of the Union." "We're treating it as if it could be a potential terrorist attack."

Kelly later echoed her statements, saying the attempted attack "obviously wasn't an accident."

"There was somebody who brought this to the location to send a message and to terrorize people in the area," he said. "A terrorist act doesn't necessarily have to be conducted by an organization. An individual can do it on their own."

Kelly confirmed that officials recovered forensic evidence, including fingerprints, from the Nissan Pathfinder found packed with three propane tanks, fireworks, two 5-gallon containers of gasoline, two clocks with batteries and electrical wire.

Police also found more than 100 pounds of fertilizer, stuffed into a metal rifle cabinet, with the bomb. Test results showed the fertilizer was not the type to cause an explosion, reported The Associated Press.

On Sunday, NYPD bomb experts breached a gun locker found in the backseat of the Pathfinder, revealing 8 bags of an unknown granular substance and an "inverted metal pot containing a bird's nest of wires and M-88 firecrackers."

"We were lucky it didn't detonate," Kelly said. "In my judgment, it would have caused casualties, a significant fireball. I'm told the vehicle itself would have been cut in half."

Kelly told reporters that police have identified the registered owner of the Nissan Pathfinder although they declined to release the owner's name. A police official told CNN that the Pathfinder belongs to someone who lives in the tri-state area. The license plate on the rear of the Pathfinder was registered to a vehicle at a repair shop in Connecticut, where its matching plate was also found.

Kelly said he would not rule out the bomb attempt's possible connection to the Times Square headquarters of Viacom, the parent company of Comedy Central's "South Park," which recently stirred controversy and sparked a warning of terror threats after broadcasting a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit.

FBI Special Agent in Charge George Venizelos said a joint task force with the NYPD is working together "seamlessly" to investigate the car bomb scare and "protect New York City and the rest of the country." He appealed for public help in the investigation.

"No matter where you are in the country, it's the tips that cause the disruptions we have in these terrorist attacks," he said. "It's very important that we continue to disrupt these attacks."

Two T-shirt vendors, Lance Orton and Duane Jackson, are being credited with alerting police to the smoking vehicle parked with its engine running on 45th street in the heart of Times Square.

"I turned around and saw the car sitting on the corner and the keys were in it and car was running," Jackson told the BBC. "When the mounted police came by, we directed them to the car and told them we didn't know whose it is and shortly after that the smoke started coming out of the car."

Moved by the smoke and the smell of gun powder, mounted police and patrolling officers began evacuating the city's busy theater district as police and bomb squad members arrived.

"We avoided what could have been a very deadly event," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a 2 a.m. news briefing. "It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."

Police spokesman Paul Browne said the SUV was being "thoroughly checked for prints, hairs and fibers" as investigators attempt to gather additional surveillance footage from businesses that were closed Saturday night. Kelly said there was video showing the SUV driving west on 45th street before parking between 7th and 8th avenues. Because of the vehicle's tinted windows, Kelly said it could be difficult to identify a driver or any passengers.

"We have no idea who did this or why," Bloomberg said, adding that based on current video surveillance, authorities "couldn't detect who was in the vehicle, how many were in the vehicle and what was in the vehicle."

CBS News quoted an anonymous law enforcement source as saying there is video showing someone exiting the vehicle near the Broadway theater that houses Disney's "The Lion King." Officials said they had no reports of anyone seen running from the vehicle, according to The Associated Press.

"The full attention of city, state and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism," Gov. David Paterson said in a statement.

Napolitano told ABC News' Jake Tapper that there is no evidence that the crude bomb attempt was part of a larger plot, saying it does not appear to be "anything other than a one-off" attempt.

Orton and Jackson, both Vietnam veterans, are being hailed as heroes for alerting police to the suspicious vehicle.The men led Officer Watne Rhatigan to approach the SUV, later saying he heard a popping sound coming from inside.

"I did a lap around the vehicle. The inside was smoking," Rhatigan told New York's Daily News. "I smelled gunpowder and knew it might blow. I thought it might blow any second."

The bomb squad disabled the explosives after surveying the interior of the vehicle with the help of a "remote-controlled robot arm."

Jackson told reporters he doesn't consider himself a hero.

"There are a bunch of us disabled vets selling here, and we're used to being vigilant because we all know that freedom isn't free," Jackson, 58, told the Times.

The bomb scare heightened the usual hubbub of Times Square on Saturday night, with onlookers crowding against police barricades to gawk at the mass of ambulances, fire trucks, police vans and armed officers at the scene. Some Broadway show times were delayed by 30 minutes but were reported to proceed without cancellation.

"It's a whole different kind of show," Tay Heniser, a tourist from Seattle told the Times. "It's almost the equivalent of a $150 show."

Orton was still lingering in Times Square early Sunday morning, brushing off reporters questioning him about the incident.

"See something, say something," he told reporters, quoting a popular Metropolitan Transportation Authority poster that urges subway riders to report suspicious activity.