Two months later, few answers about grenade incident outside British Consulate By TOM HAYS Associated Press Writer NEW YORK It can't compare to the terrorist attack that rocked London. But New York police have been hunting for suspects in an explosion that blew out a window near Manhattan's British consulate two months ago _ and so far are stumped.
The early morning blast on May 5 involving two makeshift grenades, which caused no injuries, prompted speculation that its timing was meant to coincide with a British election that day that returned Prime Minister Tony Blair to power. It also sparked an enormous emergency response by New York officials. But the incident was never mentioned when Mayor Michael Bloomberg visited the consulate on Friday to offer condolences about the London bombings. It was business as usual at the 21-story building located on a wide, commercial stretch of Third Avenue, with a sporting goods store and a bank on its ground level, and law firms among its other tenants. The New York Police Department's top spokesman, Paul Browne, said police have no evidence that supports an election day motive. Nor are there any other solid clues about who detonated the devices _ replica grenades stuffed with gunpowder and fitted with fuses _ and who was the target. "We've done a tremendous amount of work on this case, and there are no suspects or even witnesses," Browne said as police in New York ratcheted up security in response to the London attack. Investigators in the consulate incident quickly dismissed a claim of responsibility by a little-known group, Soldiers of Levant, saying the faction routinely tries to take blame for attacks it did not commit. Since then, the probe has been marked by a tantalizing false lead and a lingering interest in a lone cyclist who rode around the consulate building. Detectives received an early tip that someone in Britain had bought two replica grenades on the Internet identical to those used in the incident, and had them shipped to a home in suburban Westchester County the day before the explosions. London newspapers reported that one piece of the puzzle had been solved, even identifying the purchaser. But when police went to the Westchester address, they discovered the delivery, unopened and containing inert collectors' items, Browne said. "We determined there was no connection between that package and the actual incident," he said. Investigators next turned to the task of studying scores of security videos from around the crime scene that showed three potential witnesses passing the building at the time of the attack: a female jogger, a yellow-cab driver and a man on a bicycle. "This is New York," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said at the time. "It's 3:30 in the morning, yet there were people out on the street." The images, even after being digitally enhanced, were too murky to identify anyone at the scene. But the videos fueled the theory that the grenades were thrown from a distance _ not set inside a cement security planter as originally thought. Some showed the devices, fuses lit, arching toward the building and landing in or near the planter, police said. Investigators say the videos also hinted at who may have been the thrower: the cyclist seen circling the block moments before the devices went off. Afterward, a trail of cameras captured pictures of him pedaling north and west about 40 blocks. Then, he vanished. The incident had more earmarks of an individual with a hidden agenda and a "throw-and-go" approach than a terrorist organization with a sophisticated plan of attack, said Robert Tucker, a security expert who heads the firm T&M Protection Resources. But he believes that's no less cause for concern. "I'm more scared of the lone ranger who's off the radar screen," Tucker said. "This was someone who tested the waters at 845 Third Ave., and can say to himself, 'I didn't even get caught.'" 050709 153747 Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. 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