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NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect in bombings in New York City and New Jersey over the weekend, is a 28-year-old naturalized citizen of the United States of Afghan descent, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
He was born on January 23, 1988, in Afghanistan and came to the U.S. as a child.
Rahami's last known address was on Elmora Ave. in Elizabeth, New Jersey where he lived above the family-owned restaurant, First American Fried Chicken.
In 2010, Rahami's father was involved in litigation against the city claiming discrimination when the store's hours were limited by a new ordinance due to noise complaints.
In 2014, Rahami was arrested on weapons and aggravated assault charges for allegedly stabbing his sister in the leg in a domestic incident, according to court documents. He spent over three months in jail on the charges, reported the NY Times.
People who knew Rahami described him as friendly while a student at Edison High School. At some point in the last few years, his personality had changed becoming more quiet, several people who knew Rahami have claimed.
The shift was noted after Rahami returned from a two-year stay in Afghanistan where he reportedly got married.
When an FBI alert was issued for the apprehension of Rahami, he was described as approximately 5’ 6” tall and weighing approximately 200 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes, and black facial hair.
He was injured in the leg and hospitalized after a shoot-out with police in Linden, New Jersey on Monday morning.
According to federal court complaints, Rahami was carrying a journal at the time of his arrest that included a passage that said: "You (USA Government) continue your (unintelligible) slaught(er)" against the mujahideen, or holy warriors, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
"Death to your oppression," the journal ended.
One portion expressed concern at the prospect of being caught before being able to carry out a suicide attack and the desire to be a martyr, the complaints said. Still another section included a reference to "pipe bombs" and a "pressure cooker bomb" and declared: "In the streets they plan to run a mile," an apparent reference to one of the blast sites, a charity run in a New Jersey shore town.
There also were laudatory references to Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki — the American-born Muslim cleric who was killed in a 2011 drone strike and whose preaching has inspired other acts of violence — and Nidal Hasan, the former Army officer who went on a deadly shooting rampage in 2009 at Fort Hood, Texas, the complaints said.