NEW YORK — An 18-year-old college student was severely injured by a small explosion in New York’s Central Park yesterday. <br /> <br />The blast occurred near East 60th Street and Fifth Avenue inside the park, when Connor Golden from Virginia stepped onto a device described by the NYPD Bomb Squad as a “shock sensitive” explosive, the New York Daily News reported. <br /> <br />Golden was visiting Central Park with friends Thomas Hinds, 20, and Matthew Stabile, 18, according to the New York Daily News. <br /> <br />The device, which was left inside a black plastic bag, could have been an experiment with fireworks or homemade explosives, the New York Daily News reported, citing police sources. <br /> <br />Investigators believe the device was discarded sometime on Friday when it didn’t work after they found a disintegrated matchbook nearby, the New York Daily News reported. <br /> <br />Doctors will have to amputate Golden’s injured leg from below the knee, his grandparents told NBC New York. <br /> <br />Witnesses said the blast sounded like a cannon going off. However, the park remained open and police said there was no evidence the explosion was linked to terrorism, according to the New York Daily News.
