NEW YORK — An 18-year-old college student was severely injured by a small explosion in New York’s Central Park yesterday.
The blast occurred near East 60th Street and Fifth Avenue inside the park, when Connor Golden from Virginia stepped onto a device described by the NYPD Bomb Squad as a “shock sensitive” explosive, the New York Daily News reported.
Golden was visiting Central Park with friends Thomas Hinds, 20, and Matthew Stabile, 18, according to the New York Daily News.
The device, which was left inside a black plastic bag, could have been an experiment with fireworks or homemade explosives, the New York Daily News reported, citing police sources.
Investigators believe the device was discarded sometime on Friday when it didn’t work after they found a disintegrated matchbook nearby, the New York Daily News reported.
Doctors will have to amputate Golden’s injured leg from below the knee, his grandparents told NBC New York.
Witnesses said the blast sounded like a cannon going off. However, the park remained open and police said there was no evidence the explosion was linked to terrorism, according to the New York Daily News.
