By Jill Colvin and Leela de Kretser
DNAinfo Managing Editor
MANHATTAN — A balding white man in his 40s seen on a grainy video released by police Sunday is now the focus of a manhunt by the NYPD and federal investigators.
The man, who was captured on the surveillance footage less than a block away from where a Nissan Pathfinder packed with explosives was left in Times Square Saturday night, is seen furtively looking over his shoulder as he walks down Shubert Alley.
He sets down a briefcase, slowly removes a long-sleeved, black shirt and stuffs it into the bag, revealing a red T-shirt, and walks away.
The video, taken from Junior's restaurant, was just one in hundreds of hours of surveillance footage that investigators were still poring through as they ran down leads in what the Department of Homeland Security has classified as a terror case.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned the public not to rush to judgement, adding that the person on the tape may not turn out to be a suspect.
"There are millions of people that come through Times Square,'' Bloomberg said Monday morning on NBC's "Today'' show, according to the Associated Press. "This person happened to be in a position which a camera got a good shot of him, and maybe he had something to do with it but there's a very good chance that he did not. We're exploring a lot of leads.''
Police were also checking a possible video of the man that was shot by tourists, NY1 reported, which may be released on Monday.
The NYPD and the Joint Terrorism Taskforce traced the car, which was left on W. 45th Street, near Broadway, back to Connecticut. NYPD officials reportedly spoke to the Pathfinder's owner Monday. They did not identify the person, or say whether the individual was a suspect. The plates found on the Pathfinder belonged to another car also in Connecticut that was being repaired by a mechanic, a law enforcement source said.
On Sunday, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said investigators had also recovered eight bags of a substance the "look and feel" of fertilizer from the SUV.
The three propane tanks, two five-gallon containers of gasoline, firecrackers and a makeshift timer that were also found in the vehicle could have caused serious damage in the busy tourist destination, Kelly said.
“We were lucky it didn’t detonate,” Kelly said at a press conference Sunday. “In my judgment, it would have caused casualties, a significant fireball. I’m told the vehicle itself would have been cut in half.”
The contents of the Pathfinder were now being examined by forensic experts in a lab in Jamaica, Queens. Investigators were hoping to understand where the items may have been purchased.
Kelly said there was no evidence of a link to the Taliban, despite a video released to an Islamist website on Sunday in which a group known as the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg reiterated that there was no evidence that the failed bombing was the work of a terrorist organization, such as al-Qaeda.
One of the theories reportedly being considered by police is a possible link to threats received by Comedy Central for airing a controversial “South Park” cartoon mocking the Prophet Muhammed.
The Pathfinder was parked near Comedy Central’s parent company, Viacom.
