NY woman recounts finding pressure cooker bomb

March 29, 2024 | NY woman discovered a pressure cooker bomb in New York City last Saturday and called the police. (WTOP/JJ Green)

WASHINGTON — Jane Schreibman was alerted by a neighbor of an explosion on a nearby street in New York City on Saturday night Sept. 17.

“So I went running out to see what had happened on 23rd Street. I walked by something that caught my eye. I didn’t know it was pressure cooker. It just looked like a big pot to me, and it had wires coming out it and they were attached to some other device that I couldn’t make out,” Schreibman said.

She continued on to 23rd Street to see what the fuss was all about, but she felt something wasn’t right.

“There was this nagging idea in my mind that I should go back and take a better look at this object,” she said.

When she returned, it was still there. “I thought it was either a child science project for school or an artist trying to do some kind of kinetic artwork,” Schreibman said.

She left it there on the street, went up to her apartment and called 911. Still not aware it was a bomb, she returned to the scene and, “There was a State Trooper at the site and he saw me coming, and he said ‘Run. Get off the street,’” Schreibman said.

J.J. Green

JJ Green is WTOP's National Security Correspondent. He reports daily on security, intelligence, foreign policy, terrorism and cyber developments, and provides regular on-air and online analysis. He is also the host of two podcasts: Target USA and Colors: A Dialogue on Race in America.

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