A bomb made out of a pipe and two aerosol cans exploded inside the rear passenger-side wheel well of a four-door Sedan in the Bronx on Wednesday evening. The FBI's Joint Terror Task Force responded to the scene, but the NYPD says the explosion was not terrorist-related. The 24-year-old male driver and his 28-year-old female passenger were not injured.
The I.E.D. went off around 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, just as the red Sedan was pulling into the intersection of Mahan and Roberts avenues in Pelham Bay, according to the NYPD. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the car stopped in the intersection, with a flat rear tire and airbags deployed. A preliminary investigation revealed that only one of the aerosol cans taped in the wheel well had detonated.
NYPD sources told NBC that the driver, whose name has not been released, had 14 prior arrests on his record. The Post reports that at least some of those arrests are drug related. The Sedan was apparently a rental car.
No arrests have been made as of Thursday morning, and an NYPD investigation is ongoing. It's unclear if the driver was the intended target.
(David Torres)
