Man taken into custody after rice cookers trigger New York City bomb scare
A man accused of abandoning three rice cookers in New York City, triggering a massive police response, was taken into custody early Saturday morning, an NYPD spokesperson told CBS News. Police have not identified the man but consider him a person of interest.
He was taken to a Bronx hospital Saturday for treatment and observation, the spokesperson said. An investigation is ongoing.
"Thank you to all who called in tips as well as our federal partners who as ALWAYS stand by our side," NYPD Chief Dermot Shea tweeted.
The discovery of three unattended rice cookers halted the city's rush hour commute Friday morning. Two rice cookers were discovered at the Fulton Street station in Lower Manhattan and another was found on a sidewalk in the Chelsea neighborhood. A bomb squad determined they were not explosive devices.
Investigators later said they believed the individual was a homeless man from West Virginia who may have found the rice cookers in the trash and took them with the intent to sell them, CBS New York reported. They do not believe he was intentionally trying to incite panic.