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Homeless Hero Who Discovered Pipe Bombs In Elizabeth Gets Place To Live, Job Offer

ELIZABETH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A homeless hero who found a backpack full of bombs in Elizabeth, New Jersey and notified police now has a place to live and some new job prospects.

Lee Parker spoke with CBS2 several days ago. He and another man, Ivan White, stumbled last Sunday upon a black backpack that Parker wanted for an upcoming job search as a forklifter.

"When I noticed the bag I said, 'This is fine, I can have this for work, I can put my lunch in,'" Parker said.

White said he left for the store, but Parker got his attention, telling him to come back because it seemed suspicious.

"We picked it up. I continued around the corner to the store. He said, 'This is kind of heavy,'" White said.

White continued, "He said, 'You need to take a look at this, you need to take a look at this.' So I picked up the bag, looked at it, we started walking and I put the bag down and looked inside it one more time and said, 'This is a bomb. We need to go get the police.'"

Both White and Parker set the backpack on the ground and walked about five minutes to the police station to let authorities know they found something suspicious, which helped lead to the arrest of bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami.

One resident was so moved by the story that he opened a GoFundMe page for Parker and White. The goal was $10,000, but donors ponied up more than $28,000.

The Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless will now be working for the two men, according to the group At Hearts Length. Parker now has a place to stay and also been offered a job at a food company based in Elizabeth.

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