TRIPwire, 13 September 2021

On 10 September 2021, at approximately 0745 hours local time, the New York City Fire Department received reports of an explosion and smoke after a suspect functioned pyrotechnics inside an apartment building in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, smashed the windshields of 14 vehicles with a hammer, and fled the scene on a motorcycle. No one was injured in the incident, but the explosion blew out windows in the building, damaged an interior door of one apartment, and blew in the door of a second. The Brooklyn District Attorney (BDA) confirmed that the device was a commercial-grade pyrotechnic, and one eyewitness claimed that it sounded like an M-80. The New York City Police Department Bomb Squad responded to the scene to assist. According to the BDA, there was surveillance video of the suspect lighting the pyrotechnics and the suspect was known to police though he had not been apprehended. The suspect may have been experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the incident, and authorities report that the mother of the suspect’s child lived in the apartment. The investigation is ongoing.