A suspicious device was removed by the NYPD Bomb Squad after it was found outside a police precinct in East Harlem Wednesday afternoon, police said.
The suspicious device was cleared and taken away by the NYPD after it was initially discovered shortly before 12:30 p.m. on 119th Street near Park Avenue. The block was cordoned off for hours in the afternoon as a precaution.
The possible explosive device prompted a neighborhood lockdown.
It all started as a dispute outside the precinct when uniformed officers were approached by two cousins in a van. The driver said that he was the victim of a domestic assault that took place in the van when the passenger, who is his cousin, allegedly attacked him with a machete, according to police. The machete was found inside the vehicle and police took the passenger into the station.
Police determined that the man hit his cousin (who was driving) on the back of the head with the machete, causing a bleeding bruise.
According to police, the alleged attacker was incoherently rambling and may have emotional issues.
Get Tri-state area news delivered to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York's News Headlines newsletter.
Additionally, the driver told police that an explosive device was also in the vehicle. It was at this point that the NYPD Bomb Squad was called in and the device was found. It was subsequently removed and placed on the sidewalk before it was taken to Rodman's Neck where it will be disassembled.
News
The device was described by police as a “potentially viable improvised explosive device" and "capable of causing death or serious injury to anyone in proximity and property damage” if real. Investigators were working to determine if it was capable of exploding, though police said it appeared to be real.
Kemoree Bryant, who witnessed the bomb squad responding to the scene, said she was getting her hair done nearby when she heard all the commotion.
"I came outside and I was just sitting here and was recording and I saw all the policemen and I called my mom and I saw the bomb squad guy go in and he go the device and he took it out," she said. "I was very nervous, actually. I was a little scared. I was really confused like, 'How can this happen here?'"
Police are now investigating why the device was in the vehicle and where it was built. No arrests have been made.
“We don’t have any reason to believe that he was headed anywhere specifically,” said Deputy Chief Jason Huerta of the department’s Counterterrorism Division.
The two cousins involved in the incident each have 10 to 20 prior arrests with no recent arrests in the last few years. However, police describe these arrests as "minimal" and nothing that they would consider major.
