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Central Park Explosion Continues to Puzzle Investigators 1 Year Later: NYPD

By Trevor Kapp | June 28, 2017 4:07pm
 ATF Special Agent in Charge Ashan Benedict said investigators want photos of the rock formation in the days before the explosion.
ATF Special Agent in Charge Ashan Benedict said investigators want photos of the rock formation in the days before the explosion.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

CENTRAL PARK — Investigators have increased their reward in hopes of solving the mystery of the East Drive blast that critically injured an 18-year-old college student.

Connor Golden, a University of Miami student who was visiting the city from Virginia, lost part of his leg after stepping on a plastic bag containing an unexploded device near East 63rd Street on July 3, 2016.

Investigators said on Wednesday they’ve only received about 20 tips in the case, but the NYPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are now upping the reward to $40,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

“We’re calling on visitors to Central Park who may have taken photographs or video of the rock formation behind us in the days and weeks before July 3, 2016,” ATF Special Agent in Charge Ashan Benedict said at a news conference at the blast site.

“It could’ve been just about any visitor to Central Park who was hurt that day,” Benedict added. “We need the public’s help to ensure the safety and ensure justice for the victim and his family.”

NYPD officials do not believe the explosion was a terrorist attack, but said that it did bear some similarities.

“We’ve seen compounds like this used by terrorists, but we’ve also seen it experimented with by other people who have nothing to do with terrorism,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Counterterrorism John Miller said.

“It was not formed into an improvised explosive device in that there wasn’t a timer, shrapnel and other things.”

Meanwhile, the Golden family’s GoFundMe page has raised more than $86,000 to help cover the teen’s medical bills.

“Connor continues to make slow, steady progress in adapting to life without a limb,” family friend Terry Lowe-Edwards wrote on the page.

“He is now able to go on extended walks and, thanks to the financial support of this community, is looking into getting a secondary prosthetic that he can wear in water and at the beach and allow him to get back to some of his athletic pursuits.”