# 25+ injured in Chelsea, NYC explosion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 18, 2016, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233 "2016-09-18T02:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/41 "2016-09-18T22:09:43Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > If I burn a building just to watch it burn while the fire department tries to put it out it’s not terror. so when people say they’re scared when buildings in their neighborhood are set on fire you’re feeling is that they’re not terrorized? ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/42 "2016-09-18T22:14:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > so when people say they’re scared when buildings in their neighborhood are set on fire you’re feeling is that they’re not terrorized? Feeling terror isn’t the same as being a victim of terrorism. Or are spiders terrorists? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/43 "2016-09-18T22:29:38Z")
CCTV footage of explosion. Looks like at least three cameras caught it. [http://www.bbc.com/news/video\_and\_audio/headlines/37400720](http://www.bbc.com/news/video_and_audio/headlines/37400720) Scary, but I can see why everyone is out of the hospital. People in this video weren’t knocked to the ground. Most took off running afterwards. Anybody directly in front of the dumpster would have been seriously hurt. Cameras don’t capture a shot of the dumpster actually exploding. Just areas nearby. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/44 "2016-09-18T22:40:59Z")
Why is that one guy carrying a window screen? Especially that late at night. NY the city that never sleeps. 😉 He finally puts it down and walks off. 30 sec into the video. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/45 "2016-09-18T22:46:42Z")
Looks like CNN is trying to link the NJ and NYC bombings with the Minneapolis stabbings. Three incidents in one day. They’re saying it may not be directly coordinated but rather possibly some sort of general call to arms that some of the followers took to heart. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/46 "2016-09-18T22:51:00Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > When its a prank. My town has had a couple waves of idiots mixing chemicals, pouring them into soda bottles, and leaving them lying around or even in mailboxes. There have been a few bystander injuries from this, but the police and media treated it like idiotic behavior gone too far, not as a deliberate attack. You do understand the difference between setting off explosives that target human beings and those that dont? Right? Right? How one is an act of terrorism while the other is an act of twitism? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/47 "2016-09-18T23:02:30Z")
They’re taking away a car in the area, one with New Jersey plates. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/48 "2016-09-18T23:26:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They’re taking away a car in the area, one with New Jersey plates. If it’s the same one, it’s one that MSNBC was reporting on earlier today. It drove by when the bomb went off and might have evidence on it. The driver reported it to the police today and they’ve been all over it for hours. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2016, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/49 "2016-09-18T23:55:02Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > so when people say they’re scared when buildings in their neighborhood are set on fire you’re feeling is that they’re not terrorized? In a strictly legal sense, no. They feel terror but that’s not the same as being the victim of terrorism. We’re talking about what terminology the police and elected officials are using in their statements about this event. Shouldn’t we expect them to talk in terms of the legal definitions? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/50 "2016-09-19T00:20:12Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > If it’s the same one, it’s one that MSNBC was reporting on earlier today. It drove by when the bomb went off and might have evidence on it. The driver reported it to the police today and they’ve been all over it for hours. They showed the authorities wearing Hazmat suits while loading it onto a truck. Looks like they have video now of the same man near both of the sites in Manhattan shortly before the one blast. > [@DinoR](#): > > In a strictly legal sense, no. They feel terror but that’s not the same as being the victim of terrorism. We’re talking about what terminology the police and elected officials are using in their statements about this event. Shouldn’t we expect them to talk in terms of the legal definitions? They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If they say “terrorism” and it turns out just to be some doofus, then they get blasted for scaremongering. If they’re cautious and don’t use “terrorism,” there’s all sorts of complaining about how could it be anything else. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/51 "2016-09-19T00:26:22Z")
It bugged me when they initially wouldn’t call it a bomb. A short time later they find a intact one a few blocks away. WTH did they think it was? Somebody’s burned pot roast? They finally admitted it was a bomb awhile later. Duh! I understand speaking cautiously. But that was just ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/52 "2016-09-19T00:30:46Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It bugged me when they initially wouldn’t call it a bomb. They find a intact one a few blocks away. WTH did they think it was? Somebody’s burned pot roast? > > They finally admitted it was a bomb awhile later. Duh! I don’t think it’s completely ridiculous. My understanding is they wanted to rule out any other causes. They ruled out a gas explosion right away, but it’s still not immediate. I heard there was a construction site not too far away, and maybe it could have been some volatile materials from that. They can’t just say off the bat, “Yikes! A bomb!” They even have to talk to first-responders first. I heard that if the first-responders can say they saw, say, white smoke at the scene, that’s a good indication of black powder. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/53 "2016-09-19T01:02:02Z")
NY Times > [@](#): > > A bomb that injured 29 people on Saturday in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, and another that failed to detonate, were filled with shrapnel and made with pressure cookers, flip phones and Christmas lights that set off a powerful explosive compound, law enforcement officials said on Sunday. > > Both bombs appeared designed to create maximum chaos and fatalities — they also provided a trove of clues even as any suspects remained unnervingly at large. [NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/nyregion/new-york-explosion-chelsea.html?emc=edit_na_20160918&nlid=43071900&ref=cta&_r=0) paywall ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/54 "2016-09-19T01:07:51Z")
Flip phones and Christmas lights? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/55 "2016-09-19T01:11:27Z")
Wouldn’t Christmas lights would create a very fine glass shrapnel? Penetrate the skin and be hard to completely remove. Retrieving an intact bomb will make forensics so much easier. Hopefully fingerprints or DNA will be found. They can trace purchases of the the bomb’s components. They’ll identify somebody that’s responsible. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/56 "2016-09-19T01:30:12Z")
I’m a little surprised they released this information. Certainly appears that the police got some very good early leads. At least 3 suspects. > **[New York bombing: Investigators search for suspects, motive | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/18/us/new-york-explosion/index.html)** > > A day after a bombing injured 29 people in New York City, videos show the same man near the explosion site and another location where pressure cooker found. > [@](#): > > Surveillance video from Saturday shows a man dragging what appears to be a duffel bag with wheels near the site of the explosion on West 23rd street about 40 minutes before the blast, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement sources. Video shows the same man with what appears to be the same duffel bag on West 27th street about 10 minutes later, multiple law enforcement sources said. > > In the video, the man leaves the duffel bag where police later found an unexploded pressure cooker. After he leaves, the video shows two men removing a white garbage bag believed to contain the pressure cooker from the duffel bag and leave it on the sidewalk, ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/57 "2016-09-19T01:35:50Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Or are spiders terrorists? I have no problem with classifying them as such. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If they say “terrorism” and it turns out just to be some doofus, then they get blasted for scaremongering. If they’re cautious and don’t use “terrorism,” there’s all sorts of complaining about how could it be anything else. DiBlasio isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. I think he meant to say exactly what Cuomo said. Not wanting to jump to conclusions is one thing. Completely ignoring reality is another. > [@levdrakon](#): > > Flip phones and Christmas lights? I’m assuming the Christmas lights were transmitting the electrical charge from the phone initiator to the charge. As someone who has put together many bombs legally as a combat engineer I have to say that it’s a good thing a rank amateur seemed to be doing this. He made bombs that are designed primarily to injure and kill due to shrapnel. Putting it in a metal dumpster just contains the blast and protects your targets. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/58 "2016-09-19T01:42:30Z")
> [@MacCat](#): > > NY Times > > [NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/19/nyregion/new-york-explosion-chelsea.html?emc=edit_na_20160918&nlid=43071900&ref=cta&_r=0) paywall The linked article claims ammonium nitrate is not explosive by itself. I’m sure a lot of people in West, TX and OKC beg to differ with that. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/59 "2016-09-19T01:47:40Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > The linked article claims ammonium nitrate is not explosive by itself. I’m sure a lot of people in West, TX and OKC beg to differ with that. It doesn’t matter how they feel about it. It’s not an explosive by itself. Go get some and try to get it to explode. I’ll be waiting to hear your results. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233/60 "2016-09-19T01:52:46Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > It doesn’t matter how they feel about it. It’s not an explosive by itself. Go get some and try to get some to explode. I’ll be waiting to hear your results. Didn’t Timothy McVeigh kill 168 people with exploding ammonium nitrate? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/25-injured-in-chelsea-nyc-explosion/766233.md?page=4)