5 Years After Central Park Explosion, Police Renew Call For Help

CENTRAL PARK, NY — Nearly five years have passed since the mysterious explosion in Central Park that injured a young tourist over Fourth of July weekend — and police appear to be no closer to catching a suspect.

On July 3, 2016, three friends visiting from Virginia had set up a tightrope across a rocky outcropping near the park entrance on East 60th Street and Fifth Avenue. One of them, 18-year-old Connor Golden, stepped off the rock — and unwittingly landed on a plastic bag containing explosives.

The blast mangled Golden's foot, requiring it to be amputated below the knee. The boom was audible throughout the park, briefly startling guests at the nearby funeral for Noble Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.

Police initially said the explosives were homemade fireworks that had apparently been abandoned in the park. In the ensuing years, however, that picture has been muddled.

Investigators said a year later that the plastic bag was filled with a compound commonly used in terrorist attacks, though it did not contain other typical components of a bomb. In 2018, police released a photo of a plastic bag from "La Unica Bakery" labeled "tropical crackers" that they said had been left at the scene.

This week, the NYPD renewed its call for help, saying it had "worked tirelessly" with the fire department and federal investigators "to exhaust all leads."

Authorities are offering a $40,000 reward for information, and have asked park visitors to see if they have any photos showing the site of the explosion in the weeks before it happened.

Golden gave his first-ever interview last month to NBC4, saying he is now focused mostly on music and has devoted little thought to whether the cold case will be solved.

Still, his parents remain focused on it, running a GoFundMe to help them pay for social media posts seeking leads.

Police asked anyone with information to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-577-TIPS.