While there are no known suspects, it is a fact that many Muslims have a problem with
Starbucks for their support of Israel. Or it could of been done by a pro-Palestinian leftist.
Hat tip to
Jillosopy.
Explosion outside UES Starbucks
Monday, May 25, 2009
By Scott Curkin; Eyewitness News
NEW YORK (WABC) --
An explosive device blew out the windows of a Starbucks coffee shop in a blast that rocked an Upper East Side neighborhood.The loud blast was heard at the intersection of Third Avenue and East 92nd Street just before 4 a.m.
The explosion took place on 92nd and 3rd avenue.
Police are still looking for the person who left the device outside of the Starbucks.
The time of day echoed that of a pattern of unsolved early morning blasts that have occurred outside the British Consulate, the Mexican Consulate and the Armed Forces recruiting booth in Times Square over the past two years.
"The similarity is the time. The Mexican consulate, the British consulate, the Times Square bombing event at the recruiting station, we have this event. They all happened between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. that's the immediate similarity we are looking at," said Commissioner Ray Kelly.
The explosion took place on a bench outside of the store.
The bomb squad, OEM, along with the FDNY and NYPD are investigating.
In the earlier cases witnesses and surveillance camera footage showed a suspect escaping on a bicycle.
In today's incident, no such information was immediately available but police were canvassing the neighborhood and collecting and reviewing security camera tapes.
"We will be checking cameras in the area. Right now there are no reports of anyone on a bicycle," Kelly said." We will do a canvas, we will come back and canvas later, back tomorrow morning, see people who may have been in the area. right now we have no witnesses to the immediate event."
"It was a huge boom, and I was inside and thought it was either a gas explosion or a truck ran into the building," said Jackie Klempay.
The coffee shop was closed at the time of the blast. No injuries were reported.
The amount of explosive used today was thought to be the equivalent of two or more such fireworks. While the targets in the past blasts suggested a possible political motive to the attacks, the reason for today's attack was unclear.
"We don't know the motive. Obviously it is a cause for concern, but we are going to do an in depth investigation,"
Kelly said. "Starbucks has been victimized in the past in other cities. So we are looking into that issue as well."Link to Article
