Fingerprints Could Be Link to Times Square Blast

A police source said police are hopeful that fingerprints recovered from a bicycle linked to a bombing in Times Square can lead them to a suspect.

Investigators began testing the bicycle over the weekend to see whether they can separate a suspect's fingerprints from those of the building workers who touched the bicycle after it was discovered in the trash at East 38th Street and Madison Avenue shortly after the bombing Thursday morning. "We're trying to eliminate nonsuspect fingerprints if we can," the source said.

The building workers have willingly submitted their fingerprints so that they can be eliminated, the source said.

The next step will be for investigators to determine whether other fingerprints are also on the bicycle's frame, and whether they match any fingerprints in law enforcement databases, a process that should take a few days.

Police released a photo of the royal blue Ross 10-speed bicycle on Friday in the hopes that someone might come forward who recognizes it. Investigators believe the bomber rode the bike onto a traffic island in the heart of Times Square and left a low-grade, homemade bomb outside of the military recruiting station there. The bomb detonated at 3:43 a.m., seconds after the cyclist, who was caught on surveillance video, rode away.

Police are also trying to locate the owners of a store upstate where they believe the bicycle was purchased recently, the source said. Police have not publicized the name of the store, except to say it is north of the city. The shop subsequently went out of business, and as of yesterday afternoon, police had not been able to speak with its former owners, according to the police source.

Investigators are hopeful that the bicycle shop could provide a key clue, such as a sales receipt or a physical description of the person who purchased the bicycle, the source said.

Police have been trying to determine if the bicycle bomber is linked to two similar explosions outside the British and Mexican consulates in the past three years. In those incidents, the same sort of explosive material was detonated at around the same time of day by a hooded figure riding a bicycle. The source said yesterday that no clear links to past bombings has been established besides the striking similarity in the attacks' timing and method. No one was injured in any of the explosions.