Man Charged in Pipe Bombings

May 7, 2002 -- 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."

Helder's father, Cameron, echoed the FBI's plea, and asked for understanding of his son in an emotional statement from his Minnesota home this afternoon.

"I really want you to know that Luke is not dangerous," Cameron Helder said. "I think he is only trying to make a statement on how the government is being run. He has ideas and no one was listening to him.

"Luke, you need to talk to someone," he said, his lower lip quivering as he held back tears. "You need to call … you've got the attention you wanted. We want you home safe. Please don't hurt anyone else. Please call Mom, Jenna and I."

Tipped Off By Roommate

Helder, an art student, studies industrial design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, who studies industrial design. Investigators first learned about Helder when one of his roommates contacted investigators and told them there was black powder residue and pieces of pipe in the off-campus apartment.

Officials at the University of Wisconsin-Stout said that Helder has not been seen on campus for a week. Investigators then contacted Helder's parents, who told them that he had made some anti-government statements.

Helder also performed for a local band named Apathy, whose Web site was shut down temporarily because of the volume of users who logged on to the site after Helder was identified by the FBI.

Friends of Helder said he did not seem like the type of person who would try to kill to make a statement.

"I was just very shocked and surprised," said Rick Read, a friend of Helder. "He was a great friend."

Bomb Discovered in Texas

Investigators found a total of 18 bombs in five states since Friday — eight in Nebraska alone. The search for Helder came after the FBI reported that the latest 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.

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. All six injured people have been released from the hospital.

Pipe bombs were also found Monday in Colorado and in Nebraska.

A Change in Strategy?

Anti-government propaganda accompanied the bombs, as well as threats of more attacks to come.

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 initial 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 note promised that more "attention getters" were on the way.

However, the pipe bomb recovered in Texas did not have the 9 volt battery needed to detonate it. In the note left behind, the suspected pipe bomber said he did not want to kill.

ABCNEWS' Pierre Thomas, Ariane DeVogue and ABCNEWS.com's Oliver Libaw and Bryan Robinson contributed to this report.