Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
NYPD: Here's The Guy Spotted With Rice Cookers In Fulton Street Subway Station
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 16, 2019
Modified Aug 16, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
NYPD
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 16, 2019
Modified Aug 16, 2019
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
On Friday morning, a lower Manhattan subway hub was evacuated, eight subway lines were diverted during rush hour, and a few blocks in Chelsea were frozen after three suspicious packages—which turned out to be harmless rice cookers—were found. Now police are looking for a person who was "observed in the area of the Fulton Street Subway Station with a shopping cart and a suspicious device."
The NYPD says that at about 7 a.m., officers responded to 911 calls about "suspicious packages" at the Fulton Street station along the 2 and 3 lines and one at the corner at 16th Street and 7th Avenue. The devices were deemed safe hours later.
During a press conference, authorities said that there was video of a man placing the rice cookers at the station. The person is considered a person of interest at this point and not a suspect.
The NYPD has not conclusively linked the Fulton Street and Chelsea incidents together; a spokesperson said they are investigating that possibility.
An NYPD wanted poster shows another image of the person of interest, showing his "Amazon Prime Day" t-shirt.
From the NYPD wanted poster
The investigation comes three years after 31 people were injured by a pressure cooker rigged into an explosive device on West 23rd Street in Chelsea in the summer of 2016. Ahmad Khan Rahimi was ultimately convicted for planting the bomb here and another in New Jersey as part of a terrorist attack.
Anyone with information in regard to these incidents or the identity of the individual is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM, or on Twitter @ NYPDTips.
Tagged
fulton street station
nypd
person of interest
rice cooker
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Inside Luigi Mangione's legal strategy before his federal guilty plea
Newly unsealed transcripts and court filings reveal how his lawyers weighed a mental health defense — and the risk it could have posed to his federal case.
By
Samantha Max
Published Oct 20, 2026 at 12:37 p.m. ET
NYC proposes crackdown down on AI customer service chatbots
Customers would have to be provided the option of speaking with a human.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
NYC proposes crackdown down on AI customer service chatbots
Customers would have to be provided the option of speaking with a human.
By
Arya Sundaram
Early Addition: There's a new hot duck, this time in Queens
By
James Ramsay
NYPD hate crime unit investigates smashed windows, ‘Pal Action’ graffiti at UES Capital One
By
Ryan Kost
A reliably Republican part of NJ, until ICE came to town
By
Mike Hayes
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .