Skip to main content

Car Bomber Suspect Faisal Shahzad Eyed Other Targets

By Kamika Dunlap on May 20, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

Times Square car bomber suspect Faisal Shahzad eyed other targets before his failed attack, investigators said.

The Pakistani-born American, Faisal Shahzad, is accused of attempting to set off a car bomb and considered other targets in and around New York City area before the failed attack, CNN reports. He is scheduled to appear before a judge to face terrorism charges.

According to officials, he considered Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Center and Connecticut helicopter manufacturer, Sikorsky.

As previously discussed, Faisal Shahzad, 30, admitted his role in the failed attempt to explode a car bomb in Manhattan's theater district in the heart of Times Square.

In addition, he acknowledged receiving bomb-making training in the Waziristan region of Pakistan. 

Faisal Shahzad was eventually arrested while on board a flight bound for Dubai.

He is now facing the following charges:

  • use of weapons of mass destruction;
  • acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries;
  • use of a destructive device in connection with a crime of violence;
  • transporting and receiving explosives;
  • damaging and destroying property by means of fire and explosives.

Since the incident, Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. has submitted a proposal to loosen the Miranda rule in an effort to expand the public safety exception and give terrorism interrogators more flexibility when questioning suspects.

Currently, the U.S. government is looking for Pakistani cooperation in determining what role the Pakistani Taliban may have played in assisting Shahzad.

Shahzad was not known to the U.S. intelligence community before the failed bombing attempt.

Copied to clipboard