Local family witnessed Times Square bomb scare

Danny Cook, who was on vacation with his mother and 12-year-old nephew, Jeremy Mercer, said they were headed to their hotel when they were stopped by a police barricade Saturday night.

He had no idea what was happening and was only told he wasn't allowed to go to his room.

"I wasn't scared," he said. "I didn't know there was a bomb or anything."

Earlier in the evening, according to authorities, a T-shirt vendor saw a sport utility vehicle filling with smoke parked on the corner of West 45th Street and Broadway.

Police said the crude gasoline-and-propane bomb – made with cheap-looking alarm clocks and connected to a 16-ounce can filled with fireworks – could have produced "a significant fireball" and sprayed shrapnel and metal parts with enough force to kill pedestrians and knock out windows.

Cook said he and his family took photos and video of emergency vehicles surrounding the SUV and heard loud noises that sounded like shotgun blasts.

"It was pretty scary, because you could see where the car was from where we were at," Mercer said.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said there is no "legitimate" evidence that foreign terrorists were connected to the bomb.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, however, has said, no suspects have been ruled out, including foreign terrorist organizations.