by Betsy Blaney, Associated Press
AMARILLO, Texas (AP) -- Authorities were searching Tuesday for a 21-year-old college student after a pipe bomb similar to those found in four other states was discovered in an Amarillo mailbox.
Kenny Smith, a spokesman with the U.S. Postal Service in Amarillo, said anti-government propaganda accompanied the bomb found Monday afternoon.
“This is obviously a case of domestic terrorism,” Smith said.
The FBI said agents were looking for Luke John Helder, who was seen driving a dark gray or black Honda Accord with Minnesota license plates EZL 873.
“He has been described as an intelligent young man with strong family ties,” said Jim Bogner, special agent-in-charge of the FBI’s field office in Omaha, Neb., where the investigation is centered. “We need to talk to Luke Helder. We need to solve this aspect of the investigation.”
Helder was considered armed and dangerous, and possibly suicidal, according to a source who confirmed the contents of a law enforcement all-points bulletin to the AP.
Helder was registered at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie as a junior majoring in art with an industrial design concentration, university officials said.
The campus directory lists his hometown as Pine Island, Minn., about 60 miles from UW-Stout.
The FBI called the school Tuesday morning about the suspect, said John K. Enger, the school’s executive director of university relations. Investigators have questioned the man’s roommates, he said.
At a news conference in Amarillo, FBI agent Miles Burden said the agency was pursuing the case aggressively. He declined to answer questions about Helder.
The Amarillo pipe bomb was similar to 17 pipe bombs found in the Midwest and Colorado, the FBI said. Most bombs were accompanied by anti-government notes that warned, “More ‘attention getters’ are on the way.”
There have been no arrests and no injuries reported since six people were hurt Friday.
Officials described the bombs as three-quarter-inch steel pipes attached to 9-volt batteries and said they appeared to be triggered by being touched or moved.
Amarillo homeowner Roberto Martinez, 44, told The Associated Press he opened his mailbox Monday afternoon and found the bomb and two notes in a see-through, pink-hued sandwich bag.
He described the bomb as a metal pipe about six inches long with a bunch of wires, two needles, black electrical tape and two end caps.
As soon as he found the bomb, “I took it over to my friend’s house. He then called police.”
Martinez said police told him it did not explode because it lacked a battery.
“I’m afraid. I’m not going to check the mailbox no more,” Martinez said. “I don’t know who did it.”