Alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad had multiple targets in the New York area, and was planning to wreak havoc in four other locations if his first, botched attack had been successful, a source told MyFoxNY.com
Shahzad, who authorities say left a car bomb in Times Square on May 1, had also hatched plots against other high-profile targets in and around New York City: Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Center — just across from Ground Zero — and the Connecticut-based defense contractor Sikorsky.
A source told MyFoxNY that Shahzad picked out the exact date and time to maximize the effect of the bomb by watching streaming videos online from Times Square. Shahzad determined that the landmark attraction is busiest on Saturday nights at 6:30 p.m., and planned an alternate date for Saturday, May 8.
Shahzad, 30, slowly bought the ingredients for his makeshift bomb over an extended period of time because his connections in a bomb-making training camp in Pakistan taught him to avoid raising suspicions, the source said.
Shahzad purchased a green Nissan Pathfinder on Craigslist and packed the vehicle with fertilizer, gasoline, methane and fireworks, authorities say, though the homemade bomb failed to explode.
Shahzad also bought a second vehicle through Craigslist — a black Isuzu rodeo — from a mechanic in Stratford, Conn., who was questioned and cleared by the FBI, and is not a suspect, the source told MyFoxNY.
Sikorsky, the defense contractor allegedly targeted by Shahzad, is headquartered in Stratford and manufacturers helicopters for the U.S. military. The company also has facilities in Shelton and Bridgeport — the same two cities where Shahzad has lived.
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