Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Hosts Press Conference to Discuss the Explosion in Chelsea

September 18, 2016

Video available at: http://youtu.be/tKOCngtxEGU

Police Commissioner James O’Neill: Good afternoon everybody, so we’re here to give you an update on the investigation of last night’s events. With me is John Miller, Ben Tucker, Carlos Gomez, from the FBI, Bill Sweeney, Jim Leonard from the Fire Department, Joe Esposito from OEM, Dan Nigro from the Fire Department and the Mayor. The Mayor’s going to start it off with some comments.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you very much, Commissioner. You’re going to hear – after I give some opening comments – you’re going to hear from Commissioner O’Neill in detail and then Commissioner Nigro and Bill Sweeney, Assistant Director of the FBI. I want to thank our federal partners who have been with us from the very beginning of this incident. We are working very, very closely with the FBI to determine exactly what happened here. I was in the affected area this morning talking to residents. Governor Cuomo and I spoke to a number of people who live and work in that area. And I want to say at the outset, I want to commend my fellow New Yorkers who deal with challenges with incredible resiliency, who are strong, who are focused on going about their everyday business, who are not intimidated by anything. That’s something we’re very proud of here in the city. I talked to a lot of people including folks who were in their homes or in their businesses the moment the explosion occurred last night. They uniformly said that it worried them for sure, but they also said it was not going to change anything they were doing today. And I saw people out there going about their business as usual. I also saw an extraordinary response by the NYPD, FDNY, Office of Emergency Management. Folks said to me in the neighborhood how reassured they were by the speedy response last night and by the continued police presence. They understand there’s an ongoing investigation that will take some time. They understand there will be some disruption in that immediate community. But by and large people are getting back to business as usual. We heard a good report on the MTA – no damage there. That will be up and running soon [inaudible] subway stop. The attitude people took was one of gratitude for our first responders and a sense of that they were safe now with the kind of presence that was around them at this point.

Now this was a very serious incident. It’s going to take a lot of careful investigation to get to the facts and get to the truth. One of the things we’re going to say to you today is we’re going to be very careful and patient to get to the full truth here. We are not going to jump to conclusions. We are not going to offer you easy answers. We are going to make sure we have all the facts. We know there was a bombing. That much we do know. We know it was a very serious incident, but we have a lot more work to do, to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this. Was it a political motivation, a personal motivation, what was it? We do not know that yet. That work must go on. And we’re going to give you regular updates as we get more information.

In terms of those who were affected by this incident, 29 individuals were injured. All have been released from the hospital now. You’ll hear more from Commissioner Nigro about the response by the FDNY and the status of those individuals. We obviously – our thoughts and our prayers are with all of them for a full recovery but I am very, very pleased to say they’re all out of the hospital. Now for all New Yorkers, a central message we want to give today is be vigilant. Be vigilant at this point in time, not just because of this incident, be vigilant because we’re going into United Nations General Assembly week. Be vigilant because the police need your help, and if you see anything that might be pertinent to this case we need you to call it in. And you should know you will see a very substantial NYPD presence this week – bigger than ever. We would normally have an expanded presence for the United Nations General Assembly. You will see an even stronger presence now. New Yorkers always tell me how reassured they are by seeing our officers, including our newer units, such as the Critical Response Command and the Strategic Response Group, seeing them out in force and seeing them at the scene of obviously key public locations around the United Nations, around Times Square, a lot of other places well-armed, well-trained. This new unit and the capacity that it has are crucial to keeping this city safe, and so you’ll see a lot of them this week. That capacity that we’ve built and Commissioner O’Neill was a crucial part of that effort – the capacity we’ve built over the last two years in response to events we’ve seen around the world gives us the strongest anti–terror capacity of any city in the country. Again, it will be fully in use this week.

Now we know from everything we've seen so far that this was an intentional act. I want to reaffirm what I said last night, but again we do not know the motivation, we do not know the nature of it. That’s what we have to do more work on. The investigatory agencies continue to look to see if there is any specific connection to the incident in New Jersey. At this point we do not have any specific evidence of a connection, but that will continue to be considered. So we’re not taking any options off the table. I want to be very clear about that. All possible theories of what’s happened here and how it connects will be looked at, but we have no specific evidence at this point in time.

Again, we are going to urge all New Yorkers to be patient as we get down to the bottom of what happened here. We want to be accurate. I think the most important thing is to give people a clear and accurate picture of what happened and obviously to bring to justice whoever was involved in this incident. And the NYPD is using its full capacity to find anyone who was involved and bring them to justice. I want to affirm again, if you have any information that might link to this incident, video, photos, eyewitness accounts, overheard conversations, anything – please call the NYPD. And the number is 1–800–577–TIPS, 1–800–577–T–I–P–S. New Yorkers as always are not intimated. It’s part of who we are. We will go about our business, and we will help our police to do the jobs they do, and they are the finest in the world. Quickly in Spanish.

[Mayor speaks in Spanish]

With that, I turn back to Commissioner Jimmy O’Neill.

Commissioner O’Neill: Alright, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, I’m going to give you an update on last night’s incident and what’s going on right now. So, we have two separate crime scenes. Keep in mind, we’re in the middle of a very complex, post-blast investigation. There are a number of agencies involved – there’s of course the NYPD, the FBI, the ATF, and the State Police. So, there are many agencies involved in this complex investigation. 

We’re still gathering evidence at 23rd Street, and we did find some component indicative of an IED. We are – we moved the device from 27th Street up to Rodman’s Neck last night, and the bomb squad is in the process of working on that device right now. So, of course, they’re taking their time. They want to make sure [inaudible] use as much time as necessary to make their determination of what that device consists of. 

We’ve recovered video from both scenes and we’re continuing to canvass for witnesses and additional video. And we’re looking to speak to anyone in the vicinity of either location last night. So, we need people to call 1-800-577-TIPS, as the Mayor said. We put that out last night. And, as New Yorkers usually do, we’ve received numerous phone calls and each one of those phone calls in being vetted by our detectives.

So, right now, this is a parallel investigation with the NYPD, the JTTF, and the FBI. And we’re always on alert in New York City, and this is a device, as the Mayor said, that went off intentionally. If this happened in another city, of course we’d ramp up our security. And it happened here, so I’ll ramp up our security even more, and Chief Gomez is going to speak about that in a couple of minutes. 

Now, we’ve talked about this over the last two years – how we’ve foiled 20 plots in New York City, and that was done by a very professional, highly trained law enforcement agencies. And his violent, criminal act is going to be solved by those same people – by that same group of people. So, New York City residents can rest assured that we’ll get to the bottom of this. Right now, we’re not discounting anything at this point. And, again, we’re in the process of a complex investigation to determine who did this and why they did this. 

Carlos is going to talk about the counter-terrorism overlay. There are a lot of things going on in the city today and we just need the people of New York to rest assured that we’re going to do our best to protect them. Right now, we don’t have enough information to make any final conclusion. As the Mayor said, we don’t know if there’s any political or social motivation, but did definitely – we definitely had a bombing last night on 23rd Street and we had a suspicious device on 27th Street. So, we’re going to move this investigation [inaudible] and when we finally make that determination, we’ll make sure we let everybody know. 

Right now, Assistant Director in Charge, from the FBI, Bill Sweeney, is going to make some comments.

Bill?

Assistant Director in Charge William Sweeney, FBI: Thank you, Commissioner. Good afternoon. The FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Taskforce, which is made up of over 50 agencies is fully engaged. The investigation is still in its early stages and our thoughts are with the victims and we hope for quick recoveries for all. The evidence we’ve collected is being taken to our lab at Quantico for review and we are following every viable lead as we continue to work jointly with the NYPD and the FDNY and all of our local, State, and federal partners.

I expect evidence collection to continue for at least four to five more hours on the street itself. We have not yet made entry into the residencies in the buildings on that street. We are very grateful for the assistance and the patience of those residents in that neighborhood. The New York JTTF is also working side by side with the Newark, New Jersey-based JTTF. We will also bring additional resources in as we need them. If anyone has any information, we ask you to use either the NYPD tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS, or submit a tip on our website at www.fbi.gov. 

It is vitally important that we do not inadvertently disclose information that [inaudible] – inform the subjects. I think the public understands the need for that level of operational security, and, for that reason, I do not expect to answer specific questions on how much and what we know. 

Thank you.

Commissioner O’Neill: Thanks, Bill. Commissioner Nigro is going to give you an update on those injured last night.

FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Thank you. Last night was a extremely well-coordinated response to that attack and our members – the Fire Department was able to identify, treat, and transport 29 people quickly. I’m happy to say that, as of this morning, all 29 injured people have been released from the hospital, and that’s very good news. The Fire Department, along with the Buildings Department, also examined the buildings that were damaged in the explosion and found them to be structurally stable – there was no structural damage. And, again, that’s good news. 

You’ll hear a little from Chief Gomez about how the Police Department is prepared, moving forward. And the Fire Department is certainly has prepared. Chief Leonard and I, coordinating our people on the ground to support that effort. So, that’s the news from the Fire Department. 

Commissioner O’Neill: Thanks, Commissioner Nigro. Chief Gomez is now going to give you an update on what’s going on throughout the City right now. Carlos?

Chief of Department Carlos Gomez, NYPD: Good afternoon. Today, there are several special events occurring throughout the city – actually, in all five boroughs. We’ve increased our police presence in each of these events – we’ve added more officers to it. We’ve also added more counter-terrorism officers, as well as heavy-weapons teams in some of these events – teams from the Strategic Response Group, as well as the Critical Response Command. 

Commuters in our transit system will be greeted by more officers also. We’ll be doing enhanced bag checks throughout the city, not just in the major hubs – we’re picking random stations throughout the city. There will be more canines in the transit system. And we are coordinating with our partners in the MTA as well as the Port Authority. And heavy-weapons teams will also be assigned to our transit hubs and certain stations. 

As for traffic, 23rd Street and 27th Street obviously remain closed. We’re processing, you know, the crime scene. Sixth Avenue remains closed right now from 14th Street all the way up to 27th Street, so please avoid that area. We’ll try to clear it up as soon as we can.

Thank you.

Commissioner O’Neill: Just before we take some questions, I just want to thank all of the members of law enforcement that responded to the scene last night. I specifically want to thank the men and women from the New York City Police Department Bomb Squad who safely removed that device from 27th Street and transported it up to Rodman’s Neck, and are right now working on determining what that actually consists of. So, I’d like to thank the men and women of the bomb squad. 

Unknown: [Inaudible] questions?

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner O’Neill: And of course we took a good look at that. At this point, we haven’t made the determination if there’s any significant – to either – either location. Lisa?

Question: [Inaudible] take responsibility [inaudible]

Commissioner O’Neill: Yeah, at least, at this point, no individual or group has called to claim responsibility. Yes?

Question: Commissioner, we’ve learned that there was [inaudible]. Is that really [inaudible]?

Commissioner O’Neill: New York City is always in a state of alert based on us being the number one target in the world. So, that’s why we ramped up the [inaudible], that’s why we have Hercules Teams, that’s why we have SRG, and that’s why we have CRC. So, we are always in a state of readiness. 

Question: To follow up, [inaudible] with Seaside Park yesterday, [inaudible]?

Commissioner O’Neill: It means we’re trying to determine if there’s a connection. At this point, we have not made that determination. There was a blast in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and there’s one in New York City later on, so, you know, we can’t ignore that fact. So, during the course of our investigation, we have to see if there’s a connection, and, at this point, there doesn’t appear to be one. Yes?

Question: [Inaudible] an explosive or [inaudible]?

Commissioner O’Neill: That’s what the bomb squad is very carefully working on right now and we want to be able to take that apart to see what exactly it consists of. Yes, sir?

Question: Mayor de Blasio, when you toured the site earlier in Chelsea, did you see – did you talk to [inaudible]?

Mayor: Yeah. Very quickly – I talked to a number of community residents – a number of folks who were in their homes last night when the blast occurred – a lot of folks who work in the area, or were coming in this morning – and I think the response – I talked to a few dozen people – the response was very, very similar. Of course it was unsettling when the blast occurred, but people didn’t know what it was so they continued going about their business until they knew more – tremendous appreciation for the response by the first responders. Sense this morning – that they needed to go on about their lives and they knew there was a very, very strong police presence in the neighborhood. And several people said to me that, you know, they didn’t doubt today that they would go about their lives and their business. One woman came in from Queens to go to a church nearby – I said, did you hesitate? Did you think maybe you shouldn’t go to the church? She said no. She said, for one thing, God is with me, and, for another thing, as a New Yorker, I am of course going to keep going. Another guy in the Starbucks we were in came down from Washington Heights to his job. I said, did you wonder whether your job would be open? Did you wonder if you shouldn’t go? He said, no, I knew I should go and I knew it would be open. So, I think there’s a sense of resiliency and a real faith that the NYPD is addressing the situation. 

Question: [Inaudible]

Assistant Director in Charge Sweeney: We will look at everything. We’ll look at motivations. We’ll look at individuals. We’ll look at associations. We’ll look at social networks. We’ll look at all the incoming tips and leads. Everything that comes in gets a look. We don’t discard anything. We take everything into account and we move from there – it’s that simple. 

Question: Commissioner on the [inaudible] in the Park [inaudible]. Is there any kind of commonality between 23rd Street [inaudible]?

Commissioner O’Neill: Let me let Chief Boyce discuss that. He’s got that July 3rd investigation. 

Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, NYPD: Good afternoon. Right now, the Central Park issue from July doesn’t appear to be related to this at all. They’re two different issues from what we could see. We’re not prepared right now to say that the 23rd and 27th Street – because we don’t have everything in. Think of a jigsaw puzzle of evidence out in the street right now – that’s where we are. We have to assemble that and analyze that – compare it to the 27th. Do we think they’re related? Yes, we have to move in that direction. But, right now, we’re not ready to make these calls yet. Bomb squad right now is up at their headquarters analyzing that. That could take the next couple of hours. We want to do so intelligently and move forward. Right now, that evidence for us could be crucial to our case.

Mayor: And no connection to Central Park. 

Chief Boyce: There’s no connection – I’ll keep saying it – there’s no connection to Central Park at all at this point.

Question: How can you say there’s no link to terrorism when the Inspire magazine published instructions on how to build one of these pressure cooker bombs [inaudible]?

Mayor: Again, the job for all of us, and led here by the JTTF – and we particularly are listening to the judgement of our colleagues in the FBI – is to analyze the facts, understand what motivation existed, and why this was done, and how this was done. Until we have that information it is not fair for us to give the public a conclusion. Let the law enforcement experts draw the conclusions. 

Question: Governor Cuomo said this morning that this was an act of terrorism –

Mayor: Again, let the law enforcement experts draw the conclusions. I’m just – this is the standard that we use here, and I think it’s the right way to go. Again, that’s all I have to say.

Question: [Inaudible] bomb running around the city [inaudible]?

Commissioner O’Neill: That’s – let me address the [inaudible] issue and everything else that’s going on in New York City. [Inaudible] we’ve been as an agency this – this is what we do, and we do it very well, we’ve been doing this for years. So, we took a look at our coverage – our detail for the week, for the weeks, and we’re satisfied we are where we need to be. It’s – you know, I am concerned. We did have a bomb that was detonated on 23rd Street, and we have no one apprehended. So, of course I’m concerned. But I know, working with our federal partners and ATF, FBI, State police, NYPD – I know we’re going to find out who did this, and that they’ll be brought to justice. 

Question: [Inaudible] 

Commissioner O’Neill: Well, it’s not only what the police are doing – and we put out a message last night that went to everybody’s smart phone. It’s about the public too, and we’ve talked about this every time I’m at the podium. If you see something out there that makes you feel uncomfortable that looks unusual, you have to take that step to make sure that somebody knows, and we can respond, and we can fully investigate it. And that’s how we’re going to keep this city safe. It’s not just the police department, it’s everybody that lives, works, and visits New York City.

Question: [Inaudible] how did you find the second device? [Inaudible] and then for the Mayor – are you [inaudible] by the dictionary definition or by the legal definition [inaudible].

Commissioner O’Neill: We had two very dedicated former NYPD State Troopers who responded to the initial job last night. And anytime we have a suspicious package, especially one that’s detonated, we do a search for secondaries. And the State troopers took part in that search. They went down 27th Street in a vehicle. They circled the block. They parked their vehicle and actually walked down the block – that’s how they found it. They did a great job. 

Mayor: So, just to finish to David’s questions. So, here’s what know. It was intentional. It was a violent act. It was certainly a criminal act. It was a bombing. That’s what we know. To understand there were any specific motivations – political motivations, any connection to an organization. That’s what we don’t know. 

So I think it’s important to say what we know and what we don’t know. It could have been something personally motivated. We don’t know yet. We will keep the public informed every step of the way as we get actual, real evidence. 

Question: Mayor, just on the [inaudible] –

Mayor: That’s what we don’t know. That’s what we want to find out. We only know it was organized. We know it was organized in the sense of some individual put it there. Originally, remember, we had the question – could it be a gas leak, could it be some other kind of accident. Obviously, last night we were able to tell you it was not an accident, it was intentional. But – and I understand, obviously, everyone’s desire to have as much detail as possible at this moment. Again, we are devoted – all of the agencies in New York City with our federal partners – to getting you facts that are confirmed. When we have those confirmed facts we’re going to give them to you right away. 

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: I think we’ve covered it. We’ve covered it. 

Question: Yesterday you said that there was surveillance video of the scene [inaudible] can you tell us anything we might see on the surveillance video?

Mayor: Yes, [inaudible] the Commissioner will handle that. 

Commissioner O’Neill: As far as video recovered – I did view a video last night of the blast. We are canvassing for additional video to see who might have been walking down either street before the blast. So, we’re in the process of doing that last night. And the video I saw last night was, you know, one of the detonations. It’s the same thing that the cops from the 10th Precinct saw when they were near [inaudible] about a block away. 

Question: Commissioner, can you speak about the material that was used [inaudible]? Any [inaudible]?

Commissioner O’Neill: Yeah, I’m not going to give you specifics about that. We’re still in the process of going through that crime scene. So, we’re not done with that yet. 

Question: Can you talk about [inaudible] the challenge here because two states, two explosions in places where people throw away trash. It’s one thing to see a bag left alone in a station, it’s another thing that doesn’t arouse much suspicion when somebody throws away garbage.

Commissioner O’Neill: Alright, so I can speak about the New York City incident. There were dumpsters there. Dumpsters are a part of life in New York City. There’s major rehabilitation to the building on 23rd Street. So, unfortunately that’s – there’s so much construction in New York City. There’s going to be – there are dumpsters all throughout the city.

Question: [Inaudible] note found in the pressure cooker?

Commissioner O’Neill: I’m not going to discuss what was found on 27th Street. 

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner O’Neill: Yeah, you know, we’re in the process of investigating that right now. We can’t say with 100 percent degree of certainty where the blast originated. 

Question: Are you investigating a manifesto posted on Twitter, [inaudible] possibility?

Commissioner O’Neill: There’s – we have the 1-800-577-TIPS. Each one of those tips is being vetted. So, every lead that we get is going to be vetted. 

Question: Specifically this posting by someone [inaudible] –

Commissioner O’Neill: Again, I don’t want to get into that specifically yet. This is an ongoing investigation.

Question: Not to belabor the point but [inaudible] imposter that you would expect after a terror attack [inaudible] what do you risk by not calling a spade a spade here? Giving people the false sense of security after [inaudible] –

Commissioner O’Neill: Hey, David, we are acknowledging that there was a bomb blast on 23rd Street last night. And we are in the process of investigating that. You know, that and the device that was found on 27th Street. And during the course of the investigation – and we are going to determine what the motivation is at some point – we’ll say it loud and clear. And if it is an act of terrorism, we’re going to come out and say it. 

Mayor: That’s right. And one other point – New Yorkers are very smart and very practical. They’re going to see a very substantial police presence – a well-armed, well-trained Critical Response group, Strategic Response Group – Critical Response Command, Strategic Response Group. You will see a lot of police presence, you will see it in the subway, you will see it at major events, you will see it at major crossroads of this city – well-armed police officers. People are smart enough to figure out to be vigilant and to call in anything they know. But again, we will give you the facts as we get the facts. 

Question: Commissioner, when the wireless emergency alert system was used last night, how would you say the execution went? 

Commissioner O’Neill: It came off on my phone. I have two cell phones – and I got it when they asked people to stay away from the windows and to get to the rear of the building. We had to evacuate-in-place on 27th Street, and when the containment vehicle left the scene that was broadcast too. And I think it was very effective. It helped keep us safe. 

Question: Would you use it again in the future incidents?

Commissioner O’Neill: We’re going to use whatever technology is available to keep the people of the city safe. 

Question: Commissioner, I wanted to follow up on the question on the surveillance tapes that you viewed did you see a person in that video that you [inaudible] possible to identify?

Commissioner O’Neill: Yea, what I saw was – I saw the blast and I saw vehicles leaving the scene and I saw people running up the streets. So, we’re in the process of looking at that now. Bob?

Question: Commissioner –

Commissioner O’Neill: Hold on one second. Chief Boyce is going to add to that answer. 

Chief Boyce: Just to follow up on your question on surveillance tapes. The key is to get there before the blasts and take a look at that. And that’s what we’re doing this morning. Now, you gotta remember a lot of the businesses are closed but their cameras are still active. We can’t get in there. So, we’ll spend the next couple of days probably seeing who was on both blocks prior to the explosions. After the explosions – it’s for the bomb squads, for our detectives and intelligence bureaus as well as detective bureau and the FBI. We want to see who was on that street prior. That’s where we are right now in our evidence. And you gotta remember, it’s a warm Saturday evening in Manhattan. There’s a lot of people out on the street. 

Unknown: Thank you very much – 

Mayor: Thanks, everyone.