Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on 1010 WINS

September 19, 2016

Brigitte Quinn: Joining us live on 1010 WINS Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, you say this man could be armed and dangerous?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Yes Brigitte, it's very important for all New Yorkers to know this. We need to get this individual in immediately. NYPD, FBI, everyone is working very hard to locate him and get him in for questioning. Photos have been put out to all NYPD officers who now have, as you know, smartphones. Literally, every NYPD officer has this photo of this individual and is looking for him. He should be considered armed and dangerous so any New Yorker who sees him should call 9-1-1 immediately, not confront him but, call 9-1-1 immediately. But, this individual Ahmad Khan Rahami – this is someone we need to get in right away. And I can say also Brigitte, this case is now developing very quickly, we are getting a lot more information and I think in the coming hours we are going to be in a position to put together these pieces in much more detail.

Quinn: One of those pieces could be that his relatives were the people who were picked up in that SUV in Brooklyn?

Mayor: There was a vehicle that came to the attention of the NYPD and it was trailed, it was stopped. Individuals were questioned. We can confirm later whether they were family members or friends but it was an important point that those individuals were found by the NYPD and have been questioned. And what we know now is this individual is who we need to get in, who we are most focused on.

Quinn: Is he on a terror watch list?

Mayor: I don't know that for a fact if he was previously. I do know that a very, very extensive effort is being mounted right now to find him by the NYPD and our other law enforcement partners. And look, in general I want to urge all New Yorkers to be vigilant. Not only looking for this individual and calling 9-1-1 if you see him but in general, be very vigilant in the coming days: If you see something, say something. If you see especially, an unattended package, don’t take it for granted. Don’t explain it away, pick up the phone, call it in. If you see a police officer, tell them immediately. We want to be very, very vigilant. And the other thing Brigitte is, you are going to see a greatly expanded NYPD presence. Obviously, it’s UN General Assembly week, we are going to have our counter-terror force out, which is now the largest it’s ever been. It will be out in evidence not only in the streets, not only at the UN but, also in the subways. We will be checking bags in the subways. People should recognize these are important preventive measures and you are going to see a lot of police presence. We think that is the best way to contain the situation.

Quinn: There have been also reports, Mr. Mayor, of this possibly being the work of a terror cell in our area. Do you believe that?

Mayor: Brigitte, I listen to law enforcement in making any judgement – FDNY, NYPD and all of our other partners when they define something is the time to give it a label. Right now, I certainly have not heard any law enforcement official use that term yet. So I think it's premature to say a word like “cell.” This may be the work of one individual. It may be more than one individual. We need more information but I will say Brigitte, things are moving very quickly. We're getting a lot more information in the last 24 hours – literally, every hour things are changing, which is a good thing. It means more and more information is becoming available to law enforcement. But, I think it's premature to use that characterization.

Quinn: But, no longer premature to use the word terror?

Mayor: What we are going to be confirming and I think this questioning will be the crucial part, is what exactly was the motivation but it increasingly looks like an act of terror, absolutely.

Quinn: One last quick question, how stretched is the NYPD considering we also have the UN General Assembly in town?

Mayor: I think NYPD is in a very strong position. Remember, we increased the anti-terror force in the last year, over 500 men and women who are specifically trained for anti-terror activity, our Critical Response Command on top of our Strategic Response Group, our Emergency Services Unit. We have a very, very strong anti-terror capacity. It will be out at high levels of alert and you're going to see again expanded presence on the streets. So I feel very good about what the NYPD is mounting today. I think it will be visible, it will be strong and we already were anticipating a strong presence for the General Assembly. We’ve beefed that up further and we do have the capacity to do that.

Quinn: Mayor Bill de Blasio live on 1010 WINS. Mr. Mayor, thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Brigitte.