NEW YORK (Catholic Online) - He is a T Shirt Vendor, a Vietnam Veteran. Anyone who has walked through Times Square has seen him - or others like him - selling their wares. He noticed what he called an "unoccupied suspicious vehicle" and alerted one of those mounted Police Officers who you also see in the same area.

His alertness and sense of duty appears to have prevented what was intended to be another act of terrorism on US soil.

A New York City Firefighter, a member of the group of heroes whose valor on 9/11 must never be forgotten, told a reporter on the scene of what certainly could have been a serious catastrophe.

He arrived early on the scene.He saw a flash come from the back of this dark Nissan Pathfinder, "The SUV was smoking. There was a flash and we put two and two together.." The Police ordered an evacuation of the area from 42nd Street to 47th, including Seventh Avenue and Broadway.

The robotic arms of the explosives detection device broke the windows of the vehicle and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly reported the results, a car bomb. It consisted of three propane tanks, fireworks, two gas containers and a detonating/timing device.

It was clearly intended to detonate and cause terror. Many reports emphasize it was an "amateurish" or "crude" device. That seems to matter little to this reporter. If it had it accomplished its intended eveil objective. Having been set to detonate at that time on a Saturday evening in Times Square, in the area of the theatres, this car bomb was intended to cause serious harm - and it would have done so - no matter how crude the device.

This was a car bomb, plain and simple...and deadly. It simply did not work as intended by the terrorist(s). And that Vietnam Veteran reminds us of the greatest weapon we have against such terror, dedicated and alert citizens with a sense of duty.  

In addition to the bomb, the Police found a gun locker in the vehicle. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "We avoided what we could have been a very deadly event. It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire and a decent amount of explosive impact."

Governor David Paterson called the incident what it was in an official statement, an "act of  terrorism" and he continued "Luckily, no one is hurt, and now the full attention of city, state and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism."

The investigation is only in its early stages. The Connecticut license plate on the vehicle did not match the vehicle. The Police traced them to a car owner who claimed to have disposed of them at a junk yard.

Surveillance tapes are being carefully scrutinized. The Vendor who alerted the Police stayed with the investigators until early morning detailing whatever he had seen. He is the real story.