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FBI investigates case of possible domestic terrorism as blast hits close to Colorado NAACP office
Staff members at a Colorado NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) office say they are waiting for more information before drawing any conclusions about an explosion near their chapter, even as the FBI said it was investigating whether it was a case of domestic terrorism.
“We are standing vigilant and are trying not to let this disrupt anything,” Colorado Springs NAACP volunteer Harry Leroy said Wednesday, a day after someone set off a homemade explosive device outside the group’s building, about an hour south of Denver.
The FBI said it is investigating the possibility that the act was a case of domestic terrorism, but it had not determined whether the nation’s oldest civil rights organization was targeted.
“We are exploring any potential motive, and domestic terrorism is certainly one among many possibilities,” Denver FBI spokeswoman Amy Sanders said.
The blast happened about 11 a.m. local time (1 p.m. EST) Tuesday outside a barbershop that shares a building with the NAACP chapter. There were no injuries and only minor damage.
While local chapter members said they were not making any conclusions, speculation washed across social media about whether the explosion was a hate crime. Investigators have not ruled out any possibilities, Sanders said.
An improvised explosive device was detonated against the low-slung building, which sits in a mostly residential neighborhood, but a gasoline canister placed next to the device failed to ignite. Members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating because of the explosion’s proximity to the NAACP office, Sanders said.
Investigators were still looking for a balding white man in his 40s who might be driving a dirty pickup truck. His identity was still under investigation.
