Ivan White and Lee Parker were honored for telling police about a bag of pipe bombs by the Elizabeth train station. Watch video
ELIZABETH -- Two weeks ago, Lee Parker didn't have anywhere to live. On Tuesday night, he got a key to his city.
The Elizabeth city council presented Parker and Ivan White with their own engraved keys and city plates in a packed council chambers, as community leaders, relatives and numerous reporters looked on.
Parker and White became national heroes last week when they found a backpack full of explosive devices near the Elizabeth train station and reported the bag to police. Their actions set into motion a chain of events that ended without injuries and with a suspect in custody.
"None of this would have happened if Mr. White and Mr. Parker did not decide to walk into police headquarters and tell them what they would find," Mayor J. Christian Bollwage said Tuesday.
In the days after Parker and White found the bombs, city school children wrote thank-you cards to the men. Board of Education president Charlene Bathelus on Tuesday read some of those letters aloud.
"Dear Mr. White and Mr. Parker, Thank you for saving everyone's life in our community," wrote a student from Benjamin Franklin School No. 13. "Both of you are inspiring to me, and when I grow up I want to be just like you."
The ceremony was the latest event in what has been a nine-day whirlwind for the duo since they found the backpack Sept. 18. As fundraisers, donations and interview requests from across the country stream in, Parker and White are adjusting to their new status as national celebrities.
A local non-profit has arranged for Parker, who was homeless, to stay in a hotel room until the Elizabeth Coalition to House the Homeless can find him a permanent place to live. People have donated meals and gift cards for groceries. Another community organization has raised more than $30,000 for the men.
Their journey to fame began when they stumbled across a backpack full of pipe bombs sitting on top of a garbage can at North Broad Street and Julian Place. When they realized the strange-looking devices in the bag might be dangerous, they walked to the police department and told officers.
Multiple agencies rushed to the scene to inspect the bombs, accidentally detonating one of them in the process.
Federal officials have charged Elizabeth resident and Afghanistan native Ahmad Khan Rahami in the placement of the explosives and in blasts in Seaside Park and New York City the same weekend. State authorities also charged Rahami, who was captured after a shootout in Linden, with five counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
Rahami is reportedly in critical condition at University Hospital in Newark and does not yet have a lawyer.
Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati. Find NJ.com on Facebook.