NYPD chief who tackled bomb suspect shares wife’s hilarious reaction to viral photo
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NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards speaks out after being hailed a hero for apprehending a bomb suspect on Saturday, March 7, outside of Gracie Mansion.
The New York police chief, who was seen jumping over a fence near Gracie Mansion on Saturday before tackling a bomb suspect threatening a protest (alongside his colleague, who also acted quickly to quell the situation), is speaking out about the moment that has had him hailed as a hero.
On Saturday, March 7, during an anti-Muslim protest, two teenagers allegedly arrived to disrupt the demonstration with homemade explosives when NYPD Chief Aaron Edwards and his colleague, Sergeant Luis Navarro, moved swiftly to defuse the threat and apprehend the suspects.
“It was all instinct. There wasn’t a lot of thought. There was a real threat. There was a real danger there, and the goal was to just get to it and take care of business,” Edwards told Spectrum News NY1.
Navarro added, “Everything that I’ve learned in my whole career culminated in that moment.”
At roughly 12:30 p.m. Saturday, as the protest arranged and led by right-wing agitator Jake Lang was unfolding, counterprotesters arrived and the scene began to grow tense. Authorities say two individuals, later identified as teenagers from Pennsylvania, threw homemade explosives at the group, with one landing directly in front of Edwards and Navarro.
Viral footage from the scene shows the moment Edwards and Navarro encounter the explosive as its fuse burns. Minutes later, Edwards is seen hopping over a metal barricade in one swift move and tackling a suspect as he allegedly attempted to launch a second explosive into the crowd.
Police arrested 18-year-old Emir Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi who they allege identified as ISIS supporters. Both are facing federal terrorism charges in connection with the incident.
Speaking with Anderson Cooper on CNN, Edwards said there wasn’t much going through his mind at the time.
“I’ve been doing this for 22 years and you learn how to manage that,” he explained. “In policing they say there’s hours of boredom and minutes of terror and you learn how to manage that.”
Edwards, who joined the force in 2003, also shared with Cooper that he was inspired to become a police officer after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which occurred while he was a college student studying biology.
“When I was in college, the 9/11 terror attacks happened and that really touched me,” he recalled. “I watched it on television and what I saw was all the first responders, particularly the NYPD, just rushing in and trying to help people and I thought that’s what I want to do with my life.”
On Monday, March 9, during a press conference, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch commended Edwards and Navarro for their heroism.
“That is courage, that is selflessness, and I am deeply grateful to both of them and to every member of the NYPD who works every single day to keep New Yorkers safe,” the mayor said.
While the city has hailed Edwards and Navarro as heroes, Edwards’ wife had a more humorous and relatable reaction. Speaking to the New York Post a day after the press conference, Edwards revealed the text message he received as photos of the incident began circulating.
“I didn’t look at my phone for about three hours, right?” he said. “But I looked at the phone. I had a missed text from my wife … and it’s the photo of me and Sergeant Navarro and the suspect is like dropping the device — you see the device and you see us looking at it. She has a screenshot of it, she has it circled. She puts in caps — in big caps: ‘WRONG DIRECTION SIR.’”
While speaking with Cooper about the text exchange, and with a laugh, he added, “she’s not wrong.”