Mystery Bomber May Have Sent More Terror Parcels, Cops Say

TRIBECA, NY —Police warned that they “don’t know” if there are additional suspicious packages in New York City after removing a parcel from the Tribeca restaurant owned by actor Robert De Niro early Thursday morning.

"We don’t know at this time, but with the postal services that are here we’re doing our best to make sure that if there are any out there we identify them quickly," said NYPD commissioner James O'Neill at a Thursday news conference.

Police responded to a call of a suspicious package at 375 Greenwich St. at about 4:45 a.m. addressed to Robert De Niro that is "similar" to the parcels containing pipe bombs sent this week to prominent Democrats, including former President Obama and Hillary Clinton, authorities said.

A security guard at the building, who is a retired NYPD detective, called the NYPD's Bomb Squad directly after noticing a package addressed to Roberto De Niro resembling a suspicious parcel he had seen on the news, according to John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter terrorism.

The NYPD's Emergency Service Unit removed the package at 6:30 a.m. and transported it to the police range at Rodman’s Neck Bronx using a Total Containment Vessel, which was also used to transport a device discovered Wednesday at CNN's New York offices at the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle.

From there, the packages were taken to the FBI's labs in Quantico, Virginia for further investigation.

“We’re going to make sure there is an expanded [police] prescence as long as we need it to show, very vividly, that New York City takes these issues very seriously," said Mayor Bill de Blasio at the Thursday conference. "How we protect the democratic process is to show threats like this are not taken lightly."

The package addressed to De Niro had the same return address of Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the one found at Time Warner Center, an NYPD spokesman said.

Suspicious packages were also found at Wasserman's Florida offices.

De Niro's Tribeca Grill is in the base of the Greenwich Street building, which also contains apartments and the Tribeca Film Center. Tribeca Enterprises, the media company based there that De Niro co-founded, confirmed that the package was addressed to De Niro and had "similar packaging to the others."

"It is an open investigation. Everyone is safe and the building is open," the company said in a statement.

Life near the Tribeca building quickly returned to business as usual with shops reopening and residents rolling strollers and walking their dogs on the block. A pair of state trooper cars and a NYPD van remained in front of the restaurant past 10 a.m.

Surprised locals stopped to snap photos and video of the Greenwich Street building lined with reporters. One woman, who was on her way to work, was horrified when she learned the package was delivered just a short walk from her daughter's elementary school.

"I was alert after seeing everything on the news, but you never think these things are going to hit so close to home, it's frightening, it really is," said Monica Williams, 42, who lives in the neighborhood. "I'm amazed at how fast the police acted. It could have been so much worse."

De Niro has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump. His profane remarks against the president at this year's Tony Awards got a standing ovation and went viral.

In a Friday statement, De Niro praised law enforcement and encouraged Americans to flock to the polls in November.

“I thank God no one's been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us," he said. "There's something more powerful than bombs, and that's your vote. People MUST vote!”

The actor is the latest target of suspicious packages discovered along the East Coast this week. The parcels were mailed in manila envelopes plastered with six Forever stamps and contained "potentially destructive devices," the FBI said Wednesday. Another package addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden has been intercepted at a mailing facility in Delaware.

The NYPD, the New York State Police and federal law enforcement agencies have been investigating the packages. De Blasio, a Democrat, has linked them to terrorism.

"Someone is trying to intimidate us," the mayor said Thursday. "Someone’s trying to quash voices in this country using violence. That’s what it comes down to."

Patch editor Noah Manskar contributed to this report.

Lead image: Robert De Niro's restaurant the Tribeca Grill received a device similar to parcels mailed to high-profile Democrats this week. (Photo by Caroline Spivack/Patch)