With bright blue skies, barely a cloud to be seen, and the temperature hardly exceeding seventy-seven degrees, September 17, 2016 could have been profiled as a perfect summer day, if the people of Manhattan and New Jersey didn’t have fear instilled in their hearts.

At approximately 9:30 AM,  a trash receptacle outside of a charity race in Seaside Park exploded. The culprit? A bomb allegedly conjured by Ahmad Khan Rahami, constructed of a pressure cooker, Christmas lights, and a flip phone. Fortunately, no one was injured in the first explosion due to a delay in the starting time of the Semper Five Marine Corps Charity 5K Run, scheduled to go off that day on the boardwalk in Seaside Park.

A second explosive device detonated at approximately 8:30 PM in front of 131 West 23rd Street in Chelsea. This bomb caused 29 injuries, with one victim in critical condition. A third device was found by state troopers on West 27th Street between the Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue around 11:30 PM on Saturday night. Luckily, it was found before it detonated. At approximately 8:45 PM, and only a mile away from Rahami’s current home, two men stumbled upon an unattended backpack at a train station in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Upon the search and seizure of the backpack, it was revealed that the contents of the bag included five “pipe-style” bombs.

Upon Rahami’s dangerous arrest on Sunday, September 18, authorities found a notebook in which he had recorded doctrines pertaining to the wars taking place in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rahami specified in the “killing of the kuffar” or the death of non-believers. In his notebook he also had written about performing a “dry-run” of the attacks, along with writings that praised the late Anwar al-Awlaki, the leading propagandist of Al Qaeda.

As of now it is unconfirmed if Rahami had any ties to foreign terrorist organizations which are usually fairly quick to claim responsibility for such actions.  Rahami’s family claims that a mere few months before the attack he had taken a trip to Pakistan and returned dressed in traditional Muslim robes, had grown a beard, exhibited a change in demeanor, and started praying in the back of his family’s restaurant. 

Although it is currently unknown what the motive was behind this indefinite act of terrorism, officials have reason to believe Rahami took inspiration from extremist Islamic ideologies and took inspiration from Osama Bin Laden and other terrorist organizations.

These bombings have caused anxiety here at WHHS.

“I never thought about worrying for bombs being placed into average objects like trash cans in an average town like this one,” said Riya Patel, sophomore.

 “Our everyday, run-of-the-mill things are used for making our society better, then all of a sudden it’s used as a weapon against our country. This makes me extremely scared to step outside,” said Tori Andersen, junior.

Other  peers agree with the opinion that it makes them nervous, but that doesn’t stop them from living their lives outside of their homes. “I know this terrorist threat is a problem, especially with a bomb being hidden close to my shore house in Seaside Park, but our nation will overcome it and create a solution to fix it,” said Emma Lombardi, sophomore.