A state correction officer in New York was seriously injured over the weekend when a package outside his home exploded, authorities said.
The unidentified 52-year-old was picking up the package left near his home in Floyd, a small town east of Syracuse, when it exploded on Sunday morning, police said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the officer was seriously burned by the package and was in critical condition at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.
“He’s in critical condition, but we keep fingers crossed and you pray for the best,” Cuomo, D, said after visiting the officer. “He’s getting the best care that he can get.”
It was not clear if the explosive was related to the man’s work for the state prison system, Cuomo said. He also said it was too early in the investigation to know if it was targeted or an isolated incident, saying that if it is tied to the prison in some way, “we’ll find out how and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
“A thing like this has never really happened before,” Cuomo said Monday.
Cuomo said the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office was leading the investigation, joined by the New York State Police, FBI and other agencies.
According to the sheriff’s office, the package was near a mailbox outside the injured officer’s home when he picked it up. Cuomo said authorities were still working to determine what kind of bomb was in the package and its level of sophistication.
(c) 2016, The Washington Post · Mark Berman
