1 of 10 | New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly testifies during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing titled "Terrorists and Guns: The Nature of the Threat and Proposed Reforms," on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 5, 2010. UPI/Kevin Dietsch |
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WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- The gun purchase by the suspect in the failed car bombing in Times Square may have portended bad things to come, New York Police Chief Raymond Kelly said.
Testifying Wednesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Kelly said suspect Faisal Shahzad legally bought the Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000 for $400 in Connecticut in March, about the time investigators said they believe he began cultivating his hoped-for lethal plan in earnest, The New York Times reported Thursday.
"It appears from some of his other activities that March is when he decided to put this plan in motion," Kelly testified.
The gun purchase, he said, "may well have been an indicator of putting something catastrophic in motion."
The weapon was found -- loaded and with extra ammo -- in the sports utility vehicle Shahzad drove to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where he was apprehended Monday trying to travel to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Shahzad has been charged with five explosives-related counts in the failed attempt to set off a car -- filled with propane tanks, gasoline containers, alarm clocks and non-explosive fertilizer -- abandoned Saturday in the heart of New York's theater district.
Connecticut doesn't require a permit to own the Kel-Tec Sub Rifle 2000 because it is classified as a rifle, not a pistol, the Times said.
While officials haven't said what Shahzad planned to do with the weapon, some theorized he had it to fire at law enforcement officers in case he was stopped, the newspaper said.
In his testimony before the Senate committee Wednesday, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said suspects on terrorism watch lists should be barred from buying guns and explosives. Shahzad was not on a terror watch list when he bought his gun.
"When gun dealers run background checks, should FBI agents have the authority to block sales of guns and explosives to those on the terror watch lists -- and deemed too dangerous to fly?" the mayor testified. "I believe strongly that they should."
Data released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office indicated suspects on terror watch lists bought guns and explosives from licensed U.S. dealers more than 1,100 times from 2004 to 2010.
