Man Charged in Pipe Bombings
May 7 -- The 21-year-old suspect in the wave of pipe-bomb threats in the Midwest, Colorado and Texas was captured in Nevada today and charged in the series of attacks that wounded six people.
Federal prosecutors charged Luke John Helder with using an explosive to maliciously destroy property. Helder was being held in a Reno, Nev. jail.
U.S. Attorney Charles W. Larson of the Northern District of Iowa said Helder was responsible for the injuries suffered Friday by a woman in Tipton, Iowa.
"This was an incident of national concern which received a national response," Larson said in a statement. "The involvement of the public and hundreds of law enforcement agents led to the successful arrest this evening."
Prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois, where the first pipe bombs were found last week, are also seeking charges, according to a release from Larson's office.
Nevada authorities said Helder was pulled over by Nevada State troopers on Interstate I-80 east of Lovelock. Public safety officials said a passerby spotted him driving his 1992 Honda with Minnesota license plate EZL 873 — the same car FBI officials earlier today said he was driving — and called the sheriff's department.
Helder had a gun to his head, threatening to kill himself, but hostage negotiaters persuaded him to surrender peacefully. State officials said a bomb squad would inspect Helder's car for explosives.
‘Please Don’t Hurt Anyone Else’
Helder's arrest came eight hours after the FBI issued an all-points bulletin for Helder, of Pine Island, Minn., a student at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, Wis.
Helder is a "person of interest that we would like to question," said Jim Bogner, the FBI agent in charge of Nebraska and Iowa operations at a press conference earlier today. Bogner did not call Helder a suspect but called on him to turn himself in before he or someone else gets hurt.
"We encourage … Luke Helder to make contact with us," he said. "We do not want to see him harmed or any public harmed."
