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Pipebomb suspect sought Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Man Sought
FBI, Texas Authorities Look for
22-Year-Old Man in Pipe Bombings
May 7
— The FBI in Texas issued an alert today saying authorities are seeking a man in connection with the recent pipe-bomb attacks in the Midwest, Colorado and Texas.
The man was identified as 22-year-old Luke John Helder.
Officials said he reportedly was driving a gray 1992 Honda with Minnesota license plates. He was believed to be in the area of Lubbock or Brownfield, Texas.
He was considered armed and dangerous, authorities said. Helder was described as white, 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds, with brown hair and green eyes.
Bomb Discovered in Texas
The announcement that the FBI is seeking someone in the attacks came after the agency reported a new explosive device was discovered in Amarillo, Texas.
The Amarillo device was similar to the other pipe bombs, U.S. Postal Service spokesman Kenneth Smith said. Officials asked residents with rural curbside mailboxes within a 150-mile radius of Amarillo to leave them open, so that letter carriers can see they are empty.
Pipe bombs have been found in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. (ABCNEWS.com)
Pipe bombs were found Monday in Colorado and once again in Nebraska.
In Salida, Colo., a resident found a device in a mailbox at around 12:30 p.m. local time Monday. Federal investigators and police cordoned off the scene, which was 12 blocks from the downtown area, until the bomb squad could inspect the mailbox.
The FBI confirmed to ABCNEWS affiliate KMGH in Denver that the Colorado device was a pipe bomb consistent with those found in Iowa and Nebraska over the past three days.
"Initial description of the device indicates that its construction is consistent with those found recently in Nebraska and Iowa," the Denver FBI said a statement.
However, officials have not confirmed whether the device found in Colorado was the work of a copycat or linked to those found in Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. Postal officials have asked people in Salida to leave their mailbox doors open.
The discovery in Colorado brought the total number of bombs found since Friday to 17. Another bomb was discovered near Hastings, Neb., on Monday, bringing the total number of bombs found in Nebraska alone to eight.
The bomb and the note were "pretty much the same as those found at other sites," Mike Matuzek, a Postal Service district manager, told The Associated Press. A woman who had been away over the weekend reported finding the device in her mailbox when she returned Monday.
The bomb did not explode when it was found and no one was injured. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was at the scene Monday, trying to recover the device intact. Other bombs found in Nebraska had been detonated safely.
Explosive devices placed in mailboxes injured six people Friday in Illinois and Iowa. Two other devices found in Iowa did not detonate. On Saturday, more bombs were found in parts of rural Nebraska, and another device was discovered on Sunday. Five of the six injured people were released from the hospital on Friday. The sixth, Doris Zimmerman, 61, was released Monday.
Variations in Bombs’ Triggering Devices
Anti-government propaganda accompanied the bombs, as well as threats of more attacks to come. Whoever is behind the pipe bomb attacks has already changed tactics once, and is highly likely to strike again, FBI and terrorism experts said.
Sources told ABCNEWS the pipe bombs were full of black powder and most were rigged to detonate as the mailboxes were opened.
Pipe bombs found in Nebraska on Saturday and Sunday, however, were placed in bags and designed to blow up once the bags were opened.
It was unclear whether the change was a deliberate change in strategy, or if the bomber simply did not have time to rig the devices to the Nebraska mailboxes.
Text from the typewritten notes found with the pipe bombs is especially disturbing, one former FBI official said.
The text read in part: "You allow yourself to fear death," perhaps indicating a preoccupation with death, according to criminal profiling experts.
Another portion, "The people I have dismissed from reality are not at all dead," suggests the attacker meant to kill, not merely injure or frighten.
"If death is just an illusion, which it appears to be to him, or a dismissal, or doesn't count, [or] has no consequences for an individual like this, then obviously the danger of this individual is really, really increased at that point.," said former FBI profiler Gregg McCrary.
The bomber's note also promises "more 'attention getters' are on the way."
FBI: Bombs Nearly Identical
The FBI said the pipe bombs found so far were nearly identical.
"There is no question that these were planted by the same person or persons," Holmquist, the FBI agent, told The Associated Press. He said letters found with the bombs were also identical.
FBI officials suspect the bombs are an act of domestic terrorism by one person disgruntled with the government.
In an interview with ABCNEWS' Good Morning America Monday, Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler who worked on the Unabomber case, said early evidence suggests the attacks are not the work of a large, organized group. Theodore Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, pleaded guilty in 1998 to a nearly 20-year bombing spree that killed three people and injured 23.
"I think it's one person or maybe two people at most," Van Zandt said. "I think what he is trying to do is to suggest to you, I, and others is it is a much larger conspiracy."
Hundreds of FBI Agents on the Case
Hundreds of FBI agents, along with Postal Service and ATF investigators, were working around the clock to catch those responsible, the agency said.
"Every FBI agent in Iowa and Nebraska is devoted to this case," Holmquist told the Associated Press. "Manpower is crucial in a case like this."
Local and federal officials have called on the attacker to contact them and voice their grievances.
ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas at the Justice Department and ABCNEWS.com's Oliver Libaw and Bryan Robinson contributed to this report.
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