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Author Topic: Small Bomb, Starbucks.  (Read 1641 times)
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Toler
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« on: May 25, 2009, 01:33:02 PM »

Small bomb goes off outside Upper East Side Starbucks
BY Barry Paddock and Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Monday, May 25th 2009, 8:20 AM

 
Police investigate the scene outside a Starbucks at 92nd St. and 3rd Ave. in Manhattan where a small improvised explosive device went off early Monday morning.


Explosive device damages Times Square armed forces recruiting station
A small improvised explosive device detonated outside an Upper East Side Starbucks early Monday morning, shattering the coffee shop's windows and raising fears of terrorism.

The bomb tore a hole in a wooden bench outside the coffee chain's outpost at Third Ave. and E. 92nd St. when it exploded at 3:30 a.m.

No one was injured in the blast, but it terrified residents who had been fast asleep early on Memorial Day.

"I heard a giant noise -- a big, giant noise, like a crash -- and there was a flash," said Jordan Kovnot, 26, a law student who lives above the Starbucks. "It made me jump up."

"It felt like an earthquake," said Adrianna Ebans, 28, who was among more than a dozen residents evacuated from the apartments above the Starbucks. "We were all really scared."

Scores of detectives are crawling over the blast site, looking for surveillance video and trying to determine the nature of the low-grade explosive device, which investigators believe was either placed on or taped to the bench.

"We don't know the motive. Obviously it's a cause for concern," said Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. "We're going to do an in-depth investigation."

No one had claimed credit for the blast, nor was it called in ahead of time, said Kelly.

Kelly -- who noted that Starbucks branches have been victimized in other cities by protestors angry at the chain's global reach -- said investigators were also exploring whether this morning's blast was connected to other previous small explosions in the city.

The Mexican and British Consulates, as well as the military recruiting station in Times Square, have been rattled by pre-dawn explosions, all occurring between 3:30 and 4:30 a.m. No has been arrested in connection with those events.

Kelly said that while a bicyclist was seen in the area of the previous bombings, no witnesses have come forward to say they saw Monday morning's blast.

The bench and three of Starbucks' windows were destroyed, but nothing was damaged inside the store, Kelly said.

Though the explosion was small, the blast unnerved area residents.

"It was loud, dude, you felt it in your chest," said security guard Bryant Asencio, who was on break from his job in an apartment building across the street when the device blew up. "I saw a bunch of tenants running out. They were frantic. They were scared."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/25/2009-05-25_small_bomb_goes_off_outside_upper_east_side_starbucks.html?print=1&page=all


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MuffyBee
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« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2009, 09:34:37 PM »

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/27/2009-05-27_starbucks_bomb_homemade_from_plastic_bottle_and_fireworks_say_police.html
Starbucks bomb homemade from plastic bottle and fireworks, say police

BY Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Updated Wednesday, May 27th 2009, 6:54 PM

Homemade and crude - but still dangerous.

The small explosion that shattered the windows of an upper East Side Starbucks was caused by a crude homemade bomb fashioned from a water bottle and the same explosive powder used in fireworks, police said Wednesday.

The improvised bomb detonated into hundreds of pieces, but a crucial piece of evidence remained intact - a fragment of a metal bottle cap used to seal the explosive, police said.

That cap was inscribed with the white capital letters "VET" on a blue background, a clue that investigators hope will lead them to the origin of the bomb.

It is unclear if those letters are the beginning or the end of a brand name, said top NYPD spokesman Paul Browne. The cap also contains other blue letters on a white background, but their meaning is not clear.

The explosion shattered the quiet of Memorial Day morning in one of Manhattan's poshest neighborhoods, and while it didn't injure anyone, Browne noted that it very well could have.

"Had someone been walking by, this could have caused serious injury, if not death," he said.

The motive for the bombing remains unknown. Cops are probing whether it is tied to three predawn explosions in recent years at the British and Mexican consulates and the Armed Forces recruiting station in Times Square.

A witness told investigators he saw two teenage boys - one with blond hair and wearing a red shirt, the other with brown hair and wearing a gray shirt - running from a bench outside the Starbucks on Third Ave. and 92nd St. moments before the 3:30 a.m. blast.

Investigators believe the bomb was placed under that wooden bench, which was punctured by the blast. Cops have yet to locate any video that shows the explosion, Browne said.

A 6- to 10-ounce water bottle was filled with what investigators believe was flash powder, Browne said. A small hole was drilled into the metal cap, and a fuse was then placed inside.

In the previous bombings, a bicyclist was spotted in the moments before the explosions, which were caused by containers filled with incendiary powder. No one saw a biker before Monday's bombing, police said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/05/27/2009-05-27_starbucks_bomb_homemade_from_plastic_bottle_and_fireworks_say_police.html#ixzz0HET4qIRK&B

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