North America Gunman Detective

The hostage situation has been successfully resolved, Ethan, Jimmy's target, fell to the ground. Jimmy leaned in to check the carotid artery and confirmed there was no pulse before getting up and holstering his Glock: "Hey, guys, things are wrapped up here, I'm heading back first."

After greeting the ESU team, Jimmy exited the kitchen, Sullivan, the sergeant, had already entered the restaurant. Jimmy approached him, "Sergeant Sullivan, the suspect was shot dead by ESU."

Sullivan nodded: "Yes, sorry, it was a direct order from above, so..."

Jimmy frowned, he originally thought the order to kill was given by Sullivan outside after hearing the gunshots, "Why? I was still trying to negotiate with him..."

Sullivan shrugged, "I need to go in and take a look."

Jimmy: "Alright, then I'll head back."

It seems NYPD has been quite irritable lately. Since last winter, New York has been plagued with disasters, with a constant stream of cases at terrorist attack levels, which is why the hostage situation may have triggered some nerves. Otherwise, under normal procedures, they would need to confront the suspect Ethan for at least a few hours.

Jimmy is aware of many cases, but most won't be passed on to the FBI, as NYPD handles them internally. Therefore, when heinous cases increase, the greatest pressure falls on NYPD, followed by the New York City government.

The handling of this case is definitely problematic. We'll see what NYPD says at the case release meeting later. In theory, since Ethan fired first and a hostage was already shot, a direct ESU assault can be justified.

Jimmy removed his bullet-proof vest and drove back to Federal Square. He first went to Ruiz's office to describe the situation at the scene before returning to his own office.

Ruiz didn't say anything, but judging by his expression, he seemed satisfied. Jimmy's only doubt now is how Ruiz knew Ethan kidnapped the hostages?

He considered many clues, and the most reliable assumption is that Ethan called Seventeen for help after kidnapping the hostages. This would explain why Ruiz could receive the news so quickly and find a reason to send Jimmy, since Seventeen is close to Ruiz. A single phone call or a brief meeting would suffice to arrange subsequent actions.

No matter how convoluted it gets here, Ethan is dead now, and it's over. However, surely there are other issues on Seventeen's side that need solving; it's just unclear how many times Ruiz will have to clean up his mess afterwards.

The explosion case still has no leads, while Jimmy handled the hostage situation, Mark and Julia were reviewing the surveillance footage transcribed by the tech department on their computers.

Jimmy: "Did you find any problems?"

Julia: "None whatsoever, but it was the first time I realized there are so many homeless people in Times Square..."

Jimmy: "That's normal. At least a hundred thousand homeless people are in New York City, and they are likely to go to crowded areas to get more money and resources. However, they rarely stay overnight in places like Times Square and leave quickly."

Julia: "Well, it's just that I hadn't noticed them before. How did you find out?"

Jimmy: "Previously, there were cases where homeless people were frequently killed, so I learned a bit more about it. Actually, the main gathering place for the homeless is the subway. I rarely go to subway stations unless necessary; it's too chaotic there. You all should be careful too, especially you, Julia, if you need to visit places where homeless gather."

Julia shrugged and spread her hands: "I usually don't go to subway stations."

Jimmy: "Okay, let's get to work. Mark, any suspects?"

Mark: "Can't confirm. Most known suspects in explosion cases are still in prison, which allows us to largely rule them out. Most of the remaining are members of the United States Explosive Personnel Association. I called them to check on their members in New York, but they haven't provided the data yet."

Jimmy: "Understood, keep at it."

This explosion case is really strange because the blast was too weak; it didn't even damage the sewer. To put it bluntly, the damage from a super-sized firecracker could be stronger than this bomb.

Jimmy previously told Ruiz about two possibilities that he himself didn't quite believe. It seems more like a prank, or a novice relying on some information to make a toy, with no intent to harm anyone with this explosion.

Jimmy thought about it, then left his office again to consult the testing personnel responsible for his explosion case in the lab, primarily regarding the controller's examination.

Testing personnel: "Since it's been destroyed, there's currently no way to reconstruct this control board. But based on the existing content, we can basically deduce that this thing is definitely homemade; it doesn't seem professionally done. There are even redundant solder points on this board that didn't function according to the baseline."

Jimmy: "I previously had a thought that this bomb was made by a beginner learning, and that this explosion event was also a prank. Do you think that's possible?"

Testing personnel: "I can only say that this bomb does indeed look quite unprofessional for now. Whether it is a prank or not, I can't judge."

Jimmy nodded: "Thanks, I'll go back and investigate further."

Jimmy received some confirmation; at least the testing personnel also concluded there are some unprofessional aspects here. So saying it's a novice seems plausible. Now, he needs to figure out where this person got the ammonium nitrate explosive from.