City’s terrorist threat is now N.Y.’s problem

BRIDGEPORT - The city may have gotten rid of a potential terrorist but now he’s New York’s problem.

Necati Harsit, a Turkish citizen, was ordered by a judge to go back to Rochester, N.Y., after she dismissed charges here in connection with Harsit stalking a family.

But WHAM 13, an ABC affiliate in Rochester, is now reporting that Harsit is being investigated as a possible terrorist threat there after he was found with three loaded handguns under peculiar circumstances.

New York authorities said on Dec. 5, the 54-year-old Harsit walked into a bank in rural Irondequoit and began removing loaded handguns from a safe deposit drawer he had rented.

Authorities said Harsit kissed each weapon as he took it out of the drawer, mumbled something in Turkish and then put each gun into a large wheeled cooler.

Harsit then told a witness he was “going to a massacre,” authorities said. He was later charged with three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

On Aug. 9, Bridgeport went into a terrorist alert after Harsit was found to have a car loaded with jugs of an unidentified liquid after he was stopped for following a terrified family in their RV.

The situation began, police said, when the family, two parents and four children, contacted police that an older white Chevrolet Impala had been on their bumper all the way from the Bronx. Police said the family did not know Harsit.

The family pulled into a church parking lot off the Route 8/25 Connector and the Impala followed them.

When officers arrived Harsit was sitting behind the wheel of the car with a scarf over his head. When they asked him why he had been following the family police said he replied,” Because I want to.”

Police said there was about $14,000 in cash in the car’s center console and the backseat and floor were filled with jugs containing an unidentified liquid.

The liquid was later determined to be a floral cologne diluted in water.

Prosecutors later said Harsit had been driving from Rochester to Long Island but apparently became lost and ended following the family in the hope they could lead him to his destination.

Harsit was charged with six counts of stalking and six counts of breach of peace and was being held in lieu of $250,000 bond.

Police said they notified Homeland Security of the arrest but no one responded.

On Sept. 22, Superior Court Judge Maureen Dennis dismissed the case against Harsit after prosecutors told her they no longer intended to pursue it.

The judge then released Harsit on the condition that he immediately go with relatives to their home in Rochester.

Harsit’s former lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Thomas Paoletta, declined comment.