Cops have been following his trail, which he laid out on the Internet like Hansel and Gretel left behind bread crumbs in the forest to the Gingerbread House for nearly 2 years. But they moved this weekend only because they say he moved from the planning to action stage.
It was all so quick, said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, that local cops reacted on their own, without federal involvement through the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
But there have been other reports that the reason the FBI didn't get involved, had nothing to do with the timing, and everything to do with the fact that they passed on the case.
So how real was Mr. Pimentel's plans? It seems more than likely he could have fashioned the bombs he was allegedly assembling through his trips to various dollar-store type places and to Home Depot. The website he visited and the literature he liked to read, cops say, show him to be a fan of the U.S. born terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki (killed earlier this fall by an American drone in Yemen). And the bomb-making instructions referred to learning how to make an explosive in your mom's house which is where Mr. Pimentel lived in Hamilton Heights.
We'll have the latest on the case, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, entertainers and entertainment making news tonight. Lady Gaga tonight unveils the holiday window displays she's designed at Barney's famous for its window displays- and our Sandy Kenyon is in Los Angeles for the two-night finale of this season's dance-off on Dancing With The Stars.
And our Carolina Leid tonight dives into the sordid world of the war against prescription drug abuse. First stop Florida, the so-called Ground Zero of the direct pipeline to the Northeast.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Lee Goldberg's AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa and me, tonight at 11.
