Faisal Shahzad, Times Square Car Bomb Suspect, to Appear in Court

By: Edecio Martinez
Topics: Daily Blotter

Faisal Shahzad (Personal Photo)

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistan-born U.S. citizen, is accused of driving a bomb-laden SUV into Times Square and parking it on a street lined with restaurants and Broadway theaters.

PICTURES: Times Square Car Bomb

He is to appear in court Tuesday to face charges that he tried to set off a massive fireball and kill Americans, federal authorities said.

Shahzad was taken into custody late Monday by FBI agents and New York Police Department detectives at Kennedy Airport while trying to board a flight to Dubai, according to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and other officials.

He was identified by customs agents and stopped before boarding, Holder said early Tuesday in Washington.

The suspect is a naturalized U.S. citizen and had recently returned from a five-month trip to Pakistan, where he had a wife, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan was handling the case and said Shahzad would appear in court Tuesday, but the charges were not made public. FBI agents searched the home at a known address for Shahzad in Bridgeport, Conn., early Tuesday, said agent Kimberly Mertz, who wouldn't answer questions about the search.

Authorities removed filled plastic bags from the house overnight in a mixed-race, working-class neighborhood of multi-family homes in Connecticut's largest city. A bomb squad came and went without entering as local police and FBI agents gathered in the cordoned-off street.

Shahzad was being held in New York overnight and couldn't be contacted. A phone number at a listed address for Shahzad in Shelton, Conn., wasn't in service.

MORE ON CBS NEWS
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After NYC Scare, Pakistan Taliban Vows Attacks
Mayor: Times Square Bomb Not Linked to Al Qaeda
Napolitano: Not All Bomb Attempts May Fail
Times Square Bomb Threat: Ordinary yet Deadly

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by maccount May 5, 2010 10:43 AM EDT: I wonder what would have happened if the T-shirt vendor didn't report it, he could have ignore it and/or refuse to get involved (like so many people do these days)!

My hat off to him, by reporting it he saved alot of people from getting killed/injured, not to mention alot of mass destruction!
I honestly believe that if he wasn't there to report it, it would have happened which tells me this guy was NOT under investigation before all this happened - had planned all this and NO ONE had seen/stopped him along the way!!!

WHERE WERE WE, WHERE IS OUR SECURITY when this happened? Apparently our security in this country is NOT TIGHT ENOUGH? IS OUR COUNTRY REALLY SAFE!!! You have too many people coming into this country w/o being throughly checked and they could be rapists and murderers for all we know! You put tight security on your own people, but fail to see and/or catch the ones coming in from outside of US! TOO MANY OF US ARE SITTING ON OUR ASS for doing nothing on their job but collecting their checks and that's why this country in a mess!

Meanwhile, the American people are starving, we are being overly taxed, our homes are being taken away because we can't keep up with the mortage which keeps going up, we get layed-off, we're bailing everyone else out, WHAT ABOUT US, WHO BAILS US OUT!

No one out there is listening to the peoples' cries - we need to start looking at our own country and fix all the problems we have on hand - long overdue since we let it go long, long ago! What ever happened to US - what a dam shame!!!

I agreed with the the comments - WAKE UP UNITED STATES BEFORE WE GO DOWN THE TUBES, if we haven't gotten there yet!; Reply to this comment

by Wildwood1966 May 4, 2010 9:55 AM EDT

I'm sorry call me what you may - but how many "failed attempts" will be possible - he has the nerve to apply to be a US Citizen (which of course we grant) and then try to blow people to kingdom come? we have given way too much to way too many - bring our miltary home, worry about the hungry and homeless right here and make America a proud place to live. If you are Muslim/Pakistan etc and want to be here and live in our country then do it with respect to our nation - don't bring your beliefs and try to change ours (suicide bombers if this is your thing - do it on your own turf) dice tradations - treated fairly - bClose the borders ot

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by betopless May 4, 2010 12:23 PM EDT: I agree 100%!! We should turn our focus on checking ID's on middle eastern men, women, and children. Even the women and children are becoming suicide bombers. I'm sorry, call me what you may as well; I think we need to stop opening up our borders to people until they are check throughly. This is getting ridiculos. How many times will middle eastern residents are going to try and blow up New York before we do something about it. I'm tired of this country being hospitable to people willing to do us harm. WAKE UP UNITED STATES, enough is enough!