Mall Bomb Suspect Released From Prison 7 Days Earlier

April 24, 2011— -- The man who is now the subject of a nationwide manhunt was released from federal prison just seven days before allegedly rigging two propane tanks and a pipe bomb to explode in a crowded Colorado shopping mall, ABC News has learned.

Records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons indicate Earl Albert Moore, 65, was released on April 13. It is not immediately clear where Moore had been held, but he was serving a six-year sentence for bank robbery.

Colorado arrest records indicate Moore has used at least eight aliases and has an extensive criminal record going back to at least 1984, including arrests and for theft and larceny. He was convicted of possessing burglary tools, a felony, in 2004.

Law enforcement officials are being tight-lipped about any motive Moore may have had for trying to explode the bombs in the mall.

Police noted several similarities between the mall attack and the 1999 Columbine massacre. Both attacks took place on the same date, April 20, and at approximately the same time. Both used propane tanks and pipe bombs placed in similar areas -- the high school cafeteria in 1999 and the mall food court last week.

Columbine High School is just over a mile from the Southwest Plaza Mall in Littleton.

Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink has indicated, however, that even though the incident took place on the 12th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, he does not believe it was meant to be a copycat crime.

"It's not pointing that way quite frankly, preliminarily," Mink told ABC News. "There's a lot of dissimilarities that would make this a unique incident."

The FBI announced today that it has mounted a nationwide manhunt for Moore, who is considered armed and dangerous.

He is described as 6 feet to 6 feet 2 inches tall, bald, with a gray mustache and multiple tattoos on his arms, including a rose, a dagger and a helmeted viking.

On Saturday, officials released a video of Moore riding a city bus on April 19, the night before the bombing attempt.

Moore could be heard chatting with the bus driver on the video obtained by Denver ABC News affiliate KMGH.

"Do they do you guys like truck drivers and only let you drive so many hours a week?" Moore asks the driver.

"It's good money, though, huh?" Moore said. "And you can never have enough money."

Mall Bombing Attempt

The bombing attempt was discovered Wednesday afternoon when firefighters responded to a small blaze at the Southwest Plaza Mall and found a pipe bomb and propane tanks in a hallway near the mall's food court. No one was injured and the devices did not explode.

An estimated 6,000 to 10,000 people were evacuated from the mall around noon. Officials said the fire caused some minor damage.

A source familiar with the case told ABC News Wednesday that when officials responded they found some matches and a small fire in a service hallway that was put out by mall employees.

Authorities also discovered a bag from a Target store that contained paper, two Coleman propane tanks and a six-inch pipe that apparently was filled with smokeless powder, the source said. It appeared someone had tried to set the materials on fire, the source said. The device would have produced a low-magnitude result, but one that could have injured people close by, according to the source.

The incident came on the 12th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting, when two students opened fire and killed 12 students and one teacher on April 20, 1999.

The two teens, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, committed suicide after the massacre. They had left pipe bombs in the school but the majority of them did not explode.

It's unclear whether Wednesday's incident was connected to the shooting anniversary, but the mall is located near the high school.

"We're concerned about the date, the time and things of that nature, but we don't have anything solid that would indicate there's any link at all other than ... certainly circumstances," Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said at a press conference Wednesday.

Person of Interest

Late Wednesday night, FBI and law enforcement officials released a photo of the person of interest -- today identified as Moore -- who was spotted on mall security cameras.

He was wearing a dark cap, striped shirt, blue jeans and dark shoes. In the surveillance photos, he was seen holding a white plastic shopping bag.

ABC News' Pierre Thomas and Leezel Tanglao contributed to this report.