Homemade explosive detonated near NAACP office in Colorado
An improvised explosive device that apparently did not fully go off exploded against the exterior wall of a building housing the offices of the NAACP in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday the Denver Post reports.
One witness described the explosion as sounding like a shotgun blast, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported, and Henry Allen Jr., the NAACP chapter president, told the newspaper it knocked some items off the walls. A can of gasoline placed next to the explosive device did not explode or catch fire.
The FBI, working jointly with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, says it is looking for a person of interest, described in an agency statement as a balding white male, about 40 years old, who may be driving “a 2000 or older model dirty, white pickup truck with paneling, a dark colored bed liner, open tailgate, and a missing or covered license plate.”
The explosion occurred shortly before 11 a.m.
“This won’t deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community,” Allen said.
However, while the FBI is probing the possibility that this was an act of domestic terrorism, agents are still exploring other possibilities, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
“We’re looking at all possible motives, not just specifically that the NAACP was targeted, although that is one possible motive,” FBI Special Agent Amy Sanders told the Post. “There could be any number of reasons.” Sanders noted that there was also both a barbershop and a tax services office nearby.
