FBI: Courthouse bomb was simple, but deadly
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080505-1503-bn05bomb.html
By Greg Gross
UNION-TRIBUNE
SAN DIEGO – The pipe bomb that blasted the front of the downtown federal courthouse early Sunday morning wasn’t especially sophisticated, but it was purpose-built to injure or kill and was powerful enough to hurl shrapnel in a two-block radius, FBI officials said Monday.
According to FBI Special Agent Keith Slotter, the device consisted of multiple tubes that detonated simultaneously and was packed with more than 50 nails, creating the kind of shrapnel that could have injured or killed passersby. “This was a powerful device,” Slotter said.
Despite the use of multiple pipes – the exact number was not specified – Slotter characterized the bomb as “not overly sophisticated.”
So far, he said, no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
Evidence technicians spent the day picking up pieces of the bomb and other physical evidence, all of which is being sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va., for analysis, Slotter said.
Meanwhile, investigators are looking over tapes from security cameras, at least some of which caught the explosion and the presence of one or more people near the Front Street courthouse moments before the blast.
Slotter wouldn’t say whether any of the people seen in the videotapes were considered suspects in the bombing. He said agents are examining more tapes from other security cameras near the courthouse.
Slotter chided national news organizations for suggesting the bombing of the federal courthouse was the act of a “serial bomber” or that there was a link established between that bombing and a pipe bomb found at a Federal Express building, calling it “way too early in the game.”
He also denied reports that the FBI office in San Diego had issued any special “red alert” following the courthouse bombing, saying that San Diego agents had alerted FBI bomb technicians around the country about the incident as a matter of routine.
Probe of San Diego court pipe bomb looks at earlier blast
By ELLIOT SPAGAT | Monday, May 5 2008
http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/436168.html
The FBI said Monday that it is looking into whether a pipe bomb attack at a downtown federal courthouse is linked to a blast at a FedEx office last month.
The courthouse explosion early Sunday spread nails and shrapnel as far as two blocks, and someone could have been killed if they were in the way, said Keith Slotter, special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Diego office.
Slotter said surveillance video shows “some individuals” in the area shortly before the explosion, but declined to elaborate. Authorities have not identified any suspects and no one has claimed responsibility.
The FBI is determining whether the attack is related to a bomb that shattered the glass door of a FedEx building in San Diego around 2. a.m. on April 25. Authorities found a second bomb in the FedEx parking lot and detonated it.
“We are looking at that obviously very closely,” Slotter told reporters. “We have not reached the point where we can say the two were connected ... I think we’re way ahead of the game to characterize something like this as a serial bomber.”
More than one pipe bomb - it’s unclear how many - were left outside the federal courthouse Sunday shortly before they exploded around 1:40 a.m., causing “considerable damage” to the entrance and lobby, Slotter said.
Debris was found lodged in a window about eight stories up the AT&T building across the street. The courthouse is located near the Gaslamp Quarter’s bars and nightclubs.
“This was a pretty powerful bomb,” Slotter said.
The courthouse was scheduled to reopen Tuesday, said Mark Owen, acting chief deputy of the U.S. Marshals Office for the Southern District of California. There was no estimate of property damage.
About 40 investigators are working on the case and federal authorities are treating it as a top priority, Slotter said. Evidence was flown Monday to FBI labs in Quantico, Va.
Slotter said the motive for the attack was unclear.
“Is it (someone) trying to make a statement to the government? To the justice system?” he said. “Who knows?”