Federal authorities arrested Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Va., in connection with pipe bombs planted near the separate headquarters of the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021. The arrest marked a breakthrough in a case that had gone unsolved for five years.
A criminal complaint affidavit filed in federal court alleges that Cole “transported in interstate commerce an explosive with the knowledge or intent that it will be used to kill, injure or intimidate any individual or unlawfully to damage or destroy any building, vehicle or other real or personal property.”
On Jan 6, 2021, law enforcement responded to reports of an “improvised explosive device” near the RNC and the DNC. Surveillance footage showed the “same individual” placing the devices the night before.
Cole’s cellphone interacted with cellular service provider towers that followed the path of the suspect, as per the affidavit. His vehicle was also “observed driving past a License Plate Reader” less than a half mile from “the location where the individual who placed the devices was first observed on foot,” it stated.
The affidavit alleges that Cole purchased items connected with the pipe bombs, including steel wool, electrical wire, nine-volt battery connectors, kitchen timers, galvanized pipe and end caps, as well as items “that would facilitate the manufacturing of a pipe bomb.”
Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, credited “diligent police work and collaboration on a case that languished for four years under the prior administration.”
Darren B. Cox, FBI assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, stated that “the FBI and our partners do not forget. We do not give up. We do not relent. For nearly five years, the investigative team combed through a massive amount of data and leads to identify the suspect arrested today.”
