NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A man set off an explosive device, believed to be a firecracker, inside a Brooklyn apartment building before bashing car windshields and fleeing on a motorcycle Friday morning, police said.
Residents of 446 Madison St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant woke up to an explosion around 7:45 a.m.
"It sounded like an M-80. At first, I thought it was the police coming in the building," one resident told 1010 WINS.
Assistant Chief Judith Harrison, commanding officer of Brooklyn North, said police believe the explosion was a firecracker lit in front of a first-floor apartment—next door to where the suspect's two children live with their mother.
"I just got the call there was an explosion, so obviously I got here as soon as I could, because I was concerned of what it might be," Harrison said. "So obviously, with 9/11 being tomorrow, there's a heightened sense of nervousness."
Samantha Liebman
The explosion shattered windows and damaged the door, but no one was hurt.
The man went on to smash the windshields of several vehicles on the block before taking off on a motorcycle, police said.
The suspect is known to the NYPD and has an arrest record, but it's nothing that would indicate this type of behavior, according to police.
Neighbors described the mother of the suspect's children as very nice. They said they know him as well and that he has never acted like this before.
The incident remains under investigation as police search for the suspect.
