JOB WELL DONE
Terrorist Hunters
Linden Local 42 members capture New Jersey’s most-wanted man
■ BY JOSHUA SIGMUND
Linden Local 42 member Angel
Padilla was shot in the vest during
the capture.
Linden Local 42 member Peter
Hammer was hit in the eyes with
shrapnel during the shootout.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28,
was charged on Sept. 20 with
attempted murder of a law
enforcement official. In the
background is the scene in
the Chelsea area of New York
City following a bombing
days prior.
44
NEW JERSEY COPS
■
OCTOBER 2016
It could have been just another
Monday morning call. A deli owner
observed a man sleeping in a
vestibule on Sept. 19 and called the
cops. Around 11:30 a.m., Linden
Local 42 Officers Angel Padilla and
Peter Hammer approached the man
sleeping with his back to the street, but
with an extra sense of caution.
“Everyone had the BOLO information in the morning muster,”
advised Linden Local 42 State Delegate Ian Conk about the manhunt in motion to apprehend suspected terrorist Ahmad Khan
Rahami, an Afghanistan native who currently lives in Elizabeth.
Immediately the situation escalated. As they approached, the
officers gave a nudge to the subject, and as he rolled over, Padilla
recognized him as the man wanted for detonating multiple bombs
in Seaside Park (luckily missing an oncoming military parade) and
the highly trafficked Chelsea area of Manhattan where 29 were
injured on Sept 17.
“The suspect had his hands in his pocket and when the officers
asked him to remove his hands, he immediately started shooting,”
Conk related.
Padilla, a 14-year member of the force, was shot in the mid-section, with the bullet striking the officer’s bulletproof vest. Another
bullet went through the window of a police cruiser, and either the
bullet or glass from the window grazed 12-year veteran officer
Hammer’s head.
A third officer, Mark Kahana, who has been on the force since
1997, also received medical attention for increased blood pressure
while responding to the area to assist in apprehension.
In the shootout, Rahami was shot at least once in the leg, and was
captured alive. The three officers were transported to Rahway Hospital where they were treated for non-critical injuries and released
within a day following observation.
“They’re all on the road to recovery and all the guys are eager to
get back to work,” Conk offered.
Having been involved in several high profile apprehensions in
recent years including arresting a man wanted in a fatal hit-and-run
and attempting to arrest another wanted in a homicide before the
suspect took his own life, the three officers might have just trumped
all previous calls with this response. Especially since they received
another momentous call shortly after the terrorist takedown.
“President Obama called each of the guys on their cell phones,”
Conk noted. “They all got a real kick out of it.”
Even though