Elizabeth Bomber Gets Multiple Life Terms In Terror Attacks

ELIZABETH, NJ — The Elizabeth man who planted explosives at the Elizabeth train station and led law enforcement on a 50-hour manhunt that ended with a police shootout in Linden was sentenced to multiple life terms in prison on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi will spend the rest of his life in federal prison after detonating the bombs in September 2016.

In October, a grand jury found Rahimi guilty of eight counts related to the terrorist act. Rahimi was facing a mandatory sentence of life in prison after the guilty verdict.

The 29-year-old, who investigators said was inspired by ISIS and al Qaeda, was linked to five explosive devices found in a backpack outside an Elizabeth train station on Sept. 19, 2016. One exploded while a bomb squad robot was attempting to disarm it, but no one was injured in that incident.

His string of terror attacks started Sept. 17, 2016, with pipe bombs planbted in a trash can along the planned route of the Semper V charity 5K race in Seaside Park. Though the bomb exploded, no one was injured due to delays in the start of the race that morning. The bomb had been timed to go off at a point where runners and spectators were expected to be in the vicinity.

Two pressure cooker bombs in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan that detonated later that night also were tied to Rahimi, who was born in Afghanistan but was a naturalized U.S. citizen. The first bomb, planted in a dumpster on 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, detonated at about 8:30 p.m., causing injuries to more than 30 people. No one was killed in the explosion. A pedestrian found a second bomb that Rahimi had planted on 27th Street, which did not detonate.

Rahimi was arrested in Linden after a 50-hour manhunt ended in a shootout. He was shot several times by police but was not killed.

Ahmad Khan Rahimi is led into court in Elizabeth in this Dec. 20, 2016 photo Photo by Mel Evans/Associated Press