NEW YORK - As the investigation continues into the New Jersey man arrested in connection with Saturday night's bombing in Chelsea, law enforcement sources say the suspect's father alerted authorities about his son's potentially destructive path.

Law enforcement sources say two years ago, Ahmad Khan Rahami's father told police his son was a terrorist, which put him on federal agents' radar. 

Sources say the father later recanted the statement to the FBI.

According to law enforcement sources, the FBI stopped looking into Rahami after full background and database checks yielded no evidence.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, the father says he contacted authorities because his son was causing trouble and not because of terrorist motivations.

Mohammad Rahami, suspect's father: They checked that almost two months. They said he's OK, he's clear, he's not a terrorist. I said OK. Now they say he's a terrorist. I say OK.
Q: Why did you call the FBI two years ago?
Mohammad Rahami: He doing bad.
Q: What did he do bad?
Mohammad Rahami: He stabbed my son, he hit my wife, and I put him to jail.

Meantime, law enforcement sources tell NY1 a notebook found on Rahami contained ramblings about terrorists and also mentioned Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American imam who was a spokesman for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

New Jersey State Police got into a shootout Monday with the 28-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen after receiving a tip about a man sleeping in a bar doorway in Linden.

Two officers were shot. Both have been released from the hospital.

Rahami remains hospitalized. He faces five counts of attempted murder of a police officer.

Surveillance video allegedly shows Rahami on 23rd Street in Chelsea Saturday night, just hours before the explosion that injured 29 people.

The FBI says he is also directly linked to an explosion earlier in the day in Seaside Park, N.J.

Federal charges for the explosions are pending. 

Officials say they believe Rahami acted alone. 

Police are still searching for two men who took a pressure cooker bomb out of a suitcase then left with the suitcase. 

Investigators believe they left it on the street without realizing it was a potentially dangerous device.

Meanwhile, as people in Chelsea work to clean up and get their lives back on track, the mayor, along with homeland security officials and others, toured the area Tuesday, offering support and listening to concerns.

The "Visions" support center for the blind is close to where the blast occurred on 23rd Street, and residents were especially concerned about evacuation procedures.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Joseph Esposito both praised the city for moving so quickly after the bombing.

"No city in this country that's more prepared to prevent or react to a terrorist attack," Esposito said. "I think we showed that here on 23rd Street, the quick response, the way the street is back to normal two days later, it's just unbelievable."

23rd Street is open to traffic.  

The street had been off limits to pedestrians and traffic during the preliminary stages of the investigation.