Source: Time

By Jake Pearson, Jennifer Peltz and Dake Kang / AP

NEW YORK (AP) — The man suspected of planting bombs in a New York neighborhood and a New Jersey seaside town may have aimed to inflict carnage incognito, but he didn’t succeed for long in concealing his identity.

Ahmad Khan Rahami provided investigators with a wealth of clues that lead to his arrest some 50 hours after the first explosion, according to three law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.

His fingerprints and DNA were found at the scene of the Manhattan bombing, they said. His uncovered face was clearly captured by surveillance cameras near the spot of the blast.

Electronic toll records showed that a car to which he had access was driven from New Jersey to Manhattan and back to New Jersey the day of the bombing, according to the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss an ongoing case.

Those and other clues spurred officials to publicize his name and photo Monday morning, asking for help finding Rahami, 28, a U.S. citizen born in Afghanistan, who lives with his Muslim family in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Hours later, a police officer in Linden, New Jersey, recognized Rahami after finding him sleeping in a doorway, prompting a confrontation and shootout that led to his capture.

“A lot of technology involved in this, but a lot of good, old-fashioned police work, too,” said New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill. He said now, investigators would “make sure that we get to the bottom of who’s involved and why.”

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