53°
Superior Court jurors in Elizabeth last October convicted Ahmad K. Rahami, 31, of five counts of attempted murder -- one for each of the officers -- as well as aggravated assault and weapons offenses.
On Friday, State Superior Court Judge John M. Deitch sentenced Rahami (also known as Ahmad K. Rahimi) for those convictions.
Rahami detonated the bombs in a single September 2016 weekend, authorities said.
The first was before a charity 5k run in Seaside Park. No one was injured and the race was postponed.
It was followed later that day by the explosion of a homemade pressure-cooker bomb in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, injuring 31 people. Another pressure-cooker bomb was found four blocks away and removed by an NYPD bomb squad robot.
The next day, a backpack containing explosive devices was found atop a municipal garbage can near the Elizabeth train station.
The morning after that, Rahami’s home was searched and alerts were issued.
Soon after, the owner of Merdie’s Tavern on East Elizabeth Avenue in Linden dialed 911 to report that he’d just spotted Rahami sleeping in the vestibule outside his business.
Rahami pulled a Glock 9mm handgun on responding officers, shooting one of them in the chest – which, fortunately, hit the officer’s bulletproof vest.
Rahami took off, wildly somewhere near 20 rounds wildly behind himself as he went, then fired into the window of a police car.
An officer in the vehicle was grazed in the head by a bullet fragment.
A shootout ended with Rahami hit at least seven times.
Officer Angel Padilla was released from the hospital that night, and Officer Peter Hammer, who was shot in the car, came home the next day.
A naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Afghanistan, Rahami was inspired by ISIS and al Qaeda, authorities said.
“This defendant tried to murder members of our law enforcement community,” Union County Prosecutor Lyndsay V. Ruotolo said Friday.
The sentence “holds him accountable for his violent acts,” Ruotolo said.
The arrest “stands as a testament to the bravery of Investigators Hammer and Kahana, Officers Padilla, Diaz, and Guzman, and the many other Linden police officers who risked their lives for the safety of others,” the prosecutor said.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Jersey City and receive free news updates.
