The father of the man charged with setting off bombs in New York and New Jersey informed the FBI in 2014 about his son’s apparent radicalization, he said.
Speaking to The Associated Press early Friday in a telephone interview, Mohammad Rahami, father of alleged bomber Ahmad Khan Rahami, said his son underwent a personality shift after visiting Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2013. Speaking in Urdu, Mohammed Rahami said his son was not the same after that trip.
“I found a change in his personality. His mind was not the same. He had become bad and I don’t know what caused it but I informed the FBI about it,” he said.
The elder Rahami said he doesn’t think the FBI took any action against his son at the time. He said he and his family were in a state of shock following last weekend’s blasts, which injured 31 people.
“I condemn the act of my son and I am sad over injuries caused to people,” he said, adding that he was cooperating fully with investigators.
Rahami, an Afghan-born U.S. citizen was shot and severely injured during his arrest Monday. He has been unconscious and intubated for much of the time since undergoing surgery, said Robert Reilly, a spokesman for the FBI’s Newark office.
Prosecutors say Rahami, 28, planned the explosions for months as he bought components for his bombs online and set off a backyard blast. They say he wrote a journal that praised Osama bin Laden and other Muslim extremists, fumed about what he saw as the U.S. government’s killing of Muslim holy warriors and declared “death to your oppression.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I’m glad to hear this terrorist’s father notified the FBI. It’s a shame the FBI didn’t take him off the streets before he could harm innocent civilians.
I have no problem with people coming to this country if they want to obey the laws, live in peace and become a productive member of society. Those who come hear to mooch off the productive or to cause trouble should be kicked out of the country.
Obama has shackled the FBI on investigating and doing real follow up intelligence on potential Muslim terrorist threats since most terrorist threat happen to be Muslims. He desires to down play these threats as work place violence or homophobia, whereas any Muslim under age 30 that returns to Muslim nation needs to have vetting to determine if they are radicalized.