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A T-shirt vendor saw something suspicious in New York's Times Square Saturday evening -- smoke coming from an unoccupied SUV on 45th Street near 7th Avenue -- so he alerted police.

The tip led to what New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called an "amateurish"-looking car bomb and what Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told ABC News' "This Week" today might have been part of a "one-off" attack.

The 6:30 p.m. scare prompted police to evacuate thousands of people from the heart of the Big Apple during one of its busiest times -- a warm Saturday night when it was packed with theatergoers and tourists.

"We are very lucky," Bloomberg said. "Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers, we avoided what could [have been] a very deadly event."

Authorities were examining security cameras and other evidence to see if they could identify a possible suspect or motive -- and already had located video of the car being driven to the scene.

"Tape is being reviewed and additional forensics are being done in addition to that," Napolitano said. "Times Square, I think, now is safe."

Inside the SUV, investigators found three propane cylinders, two five-gallon jerry cans of gasoline, a canister of powder, electrical components and a timing device, police officials said. There was no high-grade explosive, and the timing device was clocks attached to wires, police said.

"This is a bomb. This is a car bomb -- a crude device that includes gasoline, propane and is wired together," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Saturday.

"The wiring ... looked amateurish, I think, is a nice way to phrase it," Bloomberg added later. "It was made up of consumer-grade fireworks that you can buy in Pennsylvania and drive into New York.

"It certainly could have exploded and had a pretty big fire, and a decent amount of explosive impact," Bloomberg said.

He suggested the incident shows how an alert populace can help foil an attack.

"It's a reminder to all of us, whether we're in airports or train stations, subways, if we do see something that looks a little suspicious, it's much better to call it in than to have the guilt afterwards that you didn't," Clarke said.

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