America’s difficulties in stopping lone-wolf terrorists before they strike was underscored yesterday as reports said that the father of the suspect in last weekend’s bombings in New York and New Jersey had once told police his son was a terrorist.
Federal investigators subsequently met the father of Ahmad Khan Rahami, in 2014, only to hear him recant his claim, the reports said. An official interviewed by the New York Times said it appeared at the time that the father had spoken in anger.
The younger Rahami, 28, a US citizen born in Afghanistan, was captured on Monday after he was shot in a gun battle with police in New Jersey. He was being held on state charges of attempted murder and illegal gun possession in the shootout while federal prosecutors prepared their case over the bombings.