The man suspected of planting bombs in Seaside Park and New York City once attended Edison High School, according to a former classmate.

The onetime classmate, who asked not to be identified, says Ahmad Rahami was a senior when she was a freshman. She says he was well-liked and had many friends.

The classmate says that after graduating in 2007, he got his girlfriend pregnant and returned to his native Afghanistan. When he came back to the United States, he worked in his family's chicken shop in Elizabeth, where the classmate says he was sometimes made fun of because of his ethnicity and religion.

"Maybe it was something that set him and his family off," the classmate says. 

Rahami was also in Pakistan in 2014. 

U.S. Rep. Albio Sires says that Rahami emailed his office seeking help, saying his wife had an expired Pakistani passport. Sires says his office sent a letter to the U.S. embassy in Pakistan to check on the status of the case.