Suspect in Santa Monica synagogue bombing nabbed
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A man suspected of involvement in an explosion outside a synagogue in Santa Monica, California last week was arrested Monday night in Cleveland, Ohio, TV channel NBC4 reported, citing information from federal officials.
Sixty-year-old Ron Hirsch, a transient who frequented an area of synagogues and Jewish community in Santa Monica before the bombing early Thursday, was arrested by authorities after a member of the public recognized him and called police.
The man, who used the name J. Fisher, was believed to have boarded a Greyhound bus the day the incident happened, and headed to New York where the investigators believe he has family. The bus was originally scheduled to arrive on Sunday.
He was spotted by investigators as having got off the bus in Denver, Colorado, and might have gone anywhere from there. There are at least 10 destinations between Los Angeles and New York.
The blast, which occurred at 6:45 a.m. in the parking lot of the Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica on 17th Street, was first thought to be an industrial accident. Later, police determined the blast was the result of a pipe bomb. The explosive device was made by filling a pipe with an explosive and setting it in concrete inside a trash can, authorities said.
Nobody was injured in the blast. A 300-pound(136 kg) hunk of concrete, with a metal bar attached, went shooting into the sky, bounced off the wall of the Jewish center, tore a hole into the roof of a neighboring residence and narrowly missed an 11-year-old girl inside.
The explosion prompted the evacuation of about 100 people in the area.
Local authorities initially though the blast was a freak accident. However, investigators, including federal agents, later found evidence linking Hirsch to the crime, FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller said.
"A lengthy forensic post-blast investigation of the incident site was conducted following the initial field assessment and resulted in evidence indicating that the device appeared to have been deliberately constructed," Eimiller said.
Hirsch was considered "extremely dangerous," and "no known motive for a deliberate attack is known at this time," according to the official. The man was also wanted on state charges of possession of a destructive device and unrelated local charges.
An investigation was launched involving Santa Monica police, the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Santa Monica Fire Department.
