Chelsea Bomber Ahmad Khan Rahimi Due In Court On Attempted Murder Charges
LINDEN, N.J. (CBSNewYork/AP) – Chelsea bomber Ahmad Khan Rahimi is back in court today for a new trial on attempted murder charges.
The charges stem from a shootout with police during his arrest in Linden, New Jersey.
Rahimi is already serving two life sentences for the Chelsea bombing, which injured 30 people.
A jury convicted the Afghanistan-born naturalized U.S. citizen of setting off a pressure cooker device on Sept. 17, 2016. A second device was discovered a few blocks away, but it failed to go off and was removed by a robot.
Hours before the Chelsea blast, a small pipe bomb exploded along a Marine Corps road race in Seaside Park, New Jersey. No one was injured, but the incident spread fear and drew parallels to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and injured more than 260.
The back-to-back explosions triggered a two-day manhunt that ended in Linden, where Rahimi was found asleep in a tavern doorway. Several police officers were hurt in the shootout.
At his February 2018 sentencing, Rahimi told a judge he didn't "harbor hate for anyone" and believed law enforcement began targeting him once he became a practicing Muslim.
Prosecutors said Rahimi showed no remorse and had made efforts to radicalize fellow prisoners at the federal jail in New York where he had been imprisoned after his arrest.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
