Residents treat NYPD to coffee, pizza as thanks after Chelsea explosions

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Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Thankful residents treat NYPD to coffee, pizza after explosions
Thankful residents are treating New York police and fire department employees to coffee and pizza to thank them for their work after the explosions in Chelsea.

NEW YORK (KABC) -- Thankful residents are expressing gratitude toward police officers in New York in the wake of this weekend's explosions in Chelsea.

A video posted to Instagram shows New Yorkers approaching the NYPD officers, who were guarding the scene, with boxes of pizza.

Another video, posted to Facebook by KnightNews.com, shows a man handing out coffee and pastries to officers working the scene. An officer tells the man "thank you" as he hands the treats over the barricade. The video has since gone viral.

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A pipe bomb blew up Saturday morning in Seaside Park, New Jersey, before a charity race to benefit Marines. No one was injured.

Then a shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bomb similar to those used in the Boston Marathon attack exploded Saturday night in New York's Chelsea section, wounding 29 people, none seriously. An unexploded pressure-cooker bomb was found blocks away.

Late Sunday night, five explosive devices were discovered in a trash can at an Elizabeth train station.

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Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was named a person of interest in the explosions, was taken into custody after a shootout with police Monday. He was then charged in New Jersey with five counts of attempted murder of police officers in connection with the shootout and was held on $5.2 million bail.

Investigators said they are still gathering evidence and have not publicly tied Rahami to those devices.

WTVD-TV, ABC News and Associated Press contributed to this report.