NJ Man Was Funny, Mysterious Student Who Became Captured Terror Suspect, Reports Say

Ahmad Khan Rahami was a well-dressed New Jersey man who was funny, but complex. He didn't do anything too loud or obnoxious, though he did drive a souped-up Honda Civic that he liked to race.

This is how friends thought of him, according to The New York Times, before he went to Afghanistan after graduating from Edison High School in 2007. Some thought he had basically disappeared at that time and don't remember him resurfacing.

He was somebody, they say, who was a bit too mysterious and hard to predict.

"We remember him being well-dressed," said Chris Konya, a radio host at 98.9 radio in Rochester, New York, who said he graduated with Rahami. "And when he did talk, it was not abrasive. It was funny."

So it was shocking to those who knew him when, as Konya put it, Rahami became "the most wanted man in America" in a matter of hours early Monday, once authorities connected him to the terrorist bombings in New Jersey and New York over the past three days.

Rahami, a 28-year-old naturalized United States citizen who is suspected to be involved in the weekend bombings in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea, was caught Monday, according to authorities.

Rahami has been charged with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, according to the Union County Prosecutor's office. His bail was set at $5.2 million.

Rahami was taken into custody by police in Linden after he was wounded in a shootout that left two city officers injured, according to Union County officials.

Rahami was captured late Monday morning after police received a tip from an eyewitness who saw a person sleeping in a doorway at a bar, where the suspect apparently sought shelter from the rain, according to Linden Police Capt. James Sarnicki, speaking live on NBC News.

The eyewitness called the police. As police approached the vehicle, the man opened fire on police.

Sarnicki said an officer, acting after getting a tip, approached the man and ordered the suspect to show his hands. The suspect pulled a handgun and fired, striking the officer — who had was wearing a bulletproof vest — in the abdomen area. Another bullet grazed an officer in the head.

One officer returned fire as the suspect began to flee, and then the suspect fired his weapon randomly at passing vehicles, police said.

Multiple officers responded to the scene, and Rahami was shot more than once, Sarnicki said. The suspect was conscious and awake at the scene, according to Sarnicki.

Later Monday, police told The Times they also suspected he was involved in the planting of bombs near the Elizabeth, New Jersey train station earlier in the day, just a few miles away from where he was arrested.

Social media users were posting photos of the scene of Rahami's capture.

Rahami was a somewhat quiet, sometimes funny but often mysterious man whose well-dressed ways were apparent in his yearbook photo, friends say, which was shared by people who knew him on social media.

Rahami was born on Jan. 23, 1988, in Afghanistan. His last known address was in Elizabeth, but he moved around a lot, friends say. Some remembered him when he was a freshman at Columbia High School in Maplewood.

He majored in criminal justice at Middlesex County College in Edison but did not graduate, according to Fox News.

Rahami’s family lives above and operates First American Fried Chicken in Elizabeth, and the family has had a sour relationship with the city ever since the restaurant stopped being a 24-hour-a-day operation, Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage said.

The Times reported that rowdy behavior at the restaurant compelled the city to pass an ordinance forcing First American to close at 10 p.m. The rowdy behavior continued, however, just as Rahami's outward personality began to change.

His friends knew Rahami as "Mad," a shorter, modified version of his name, who presided at the storefront of the chicken restaurant, according to The Times report. Friends said he gave them free food when they were short on money.

Recently, however, some friends noticed a change in his personality and religious devotion after the trip to Afghanistan, according to the report.

“It’s like he was a completely different person,” an old friend, Flee Jones, told The Times. “He got serious and completely closed off.”

His last act of aberrant behavior before police caught up to him may have come early Monday.

The five possible explosive devices discovered early Monday morning in New Jersey were found in a backpack outside an Elizabeth train station, and one exploded around 12:30 a.m. while a bomb squad robot was attempting to disarm it, according to authorities.

Police apparently started to target, and more actively pursue Rahami two days earlier, when a pipe bomb exploded in a trash can at a charity 5K run for armed services veterans in Seaside Park. The Chelsea explosion happened later that day.

The race was cancelled, and no one was injured in the Seaside Park blast. Read more: Jersey Shore Pipe Bomb Explosion in Seaside Park: Christie Cites 'Promising Leads' in Investigation

In Elizabeth, Bollwage, the mayor, said at a press conference that two men called police after seeing "wires and a pipe" near an SUV around 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

The two men were walking near Julian Place and North Broad Street, and under the arch near the train station, when they saw the suspicious item, Bollwage said in a video tape of the press conference.

The police thought it could be a bomb and called the Union County Bomb squad to examine it. The bomb squad then sent in a drone that determined "it could be suspicious and could be a live bomb," he said.

New Jersey Transit said service was suspended between Newark Liberty Airport and Elizabeth. New Jersey-bound Amtrak trains were also being held up at New York Penn Station, according to authorities. Train service was back up by 7 a.m.

Also Monday morning, police investigated a suspicious package at a parking deck at Rutgers on Monday. The package was deemed safe. Read more: Police Respond To Suspicious Package At Rutgers Parking Deck.

President Obama, meanwhile, praised New Jersey and New York authorities for their work in capturing the suspect.

"We’ve seen what was apparently a pipe bomb go off in New Jersey, in Seaside Park, where it could have seriously injured our U.S. Marines and spectators who were there for a race. The bombing in the Chelsea neighborhood, here in New York, injured more than two dozen people. We are extremely fortunate and grateful that nobody was killed. And our prayers go out to all those who have been injured. We want to wish them a speedy recovery.

"I especially want to commend all the outstanding police and first responders in both New York City and New Jersey for their extraordinary professionalism and their quick response, which surely prevented even more people from being hurt, and ensured that people got assistance quickly."

FBI and police activity also was reported elsewhere:

• There was an increased police presence at Hudson River crossings and New York City area airports in the wake of multiple bomb-related incidents, according to the Port Authority of NY/NJ. Read more here...
• On Monday, police were patrolling around the Princeton Junction Train Station, school zones and bus stop areas following the Elizabeth incident, West Windsor Police said Monday morning. Read more here...
• In Morris County, like other parts of the state, the police were on alert as a result of the multiple homemade bombs found over the weekend in New Jersey and New York. Read more...
• Basking Ridge, Bernards Township and Far Hills police departments increased patrols at train stations nearby after five explosive devices were found in Elizabeth overnight. Read more...

Photos courtesy of Scott Shanker, NJ State Police, FBI, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage, Linden County Prosecutor.