News
FBI investigates case of possible domestic terrorism as blast hits close to Colorado NAACP office
“This is someone we would like to speak to,” Sanders said.
Republican Senator Kent Lambert, whose district includes the NAACP office, said such violence will not be tolerated.
“We will track you down, prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law and put you in prison,” he said. “We will not tolerate that kind of violence in our society.”
Both the chapter office and the barbershop reopened Wednesday with little police presence.
Investigators were briefing the chapter’s president, Henry Allen Jr., and he did not return calls seeking for comment.
“We will move on,” Allen wrote on the chapter’s Facebook page. “This won’t deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community.”
Gene Southerland owns Mr. G’s Hair Design Studios next door and was cutting a client’s hair there when the explosion occurred. The blast was strong enough to knock items off the walls, but the quick police response was comforting, he said.
Southerland said the FBI had given him no information on its early findings. But he said he didn’t believe the barbershop or its predominantly black clientele was targeted.
Leroy said he believed there were surveillance cameras behind the building, but he did not know whether they captured anything of value.
Gregory Alan Johnson, who lives nearby, said he was unaware of any prior problems near the NAACP offices. Colorado Springs police wouldn’t comment about the case, but Lt. Catherine Buckley said the department found nothing concerning in any previous calls for service.
Those who heard the blast, including Southerland, said it sounded like a single, loud “boom.”
Investigators Tuesday were examining a red gasoline canister with a yellow nozzle. They also checked pieces of duct tape and metal lying 40 to 50 feet from the explosion site.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press
