Mohammed Rahami, father of Chelsea bombing suspect Ahmad Khan Rahami, said Tuesday he had called the FBI about his son years ago.
“Two years ago, I called the FBI,” he said outside his residence in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Mohammed said his son had stabbed his other son and hit his wife, but did not provide more details about the incident.
The New York Times reported that Mohammed had called his son a terrorist after that incident two years ago, citing senior law enforcement officials. The father had said it to the FBI during the agency’s investigation after the incident, but an official said Mohammed made the statement out of anger.
Mohammed said to reporters on Tuesday that his son is not a terrorist and the FBI had cleared him as a threat in 2014.
“They said he was OK, he’s cleared, he’s not a terrorist,” Mohammed said. But when he was asked about calling the FBI two years ago, Mohammed said “They didn’t do the job.”
Ahmad spent over three months in jail after the incident in 2014, a law enforcement official told the New York Times.
Ahmad was arrested on Monday after a shootout with police officers in Linden, New Jersey, officials said. He is suspected in the planting of bombs in Chelsea on Sept. 17, as well as in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and Elizabeth, New Jersey. The investigation is ongoing.
