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FBI exploring motive in Colorado Springs NAACP bombing
NAACP president says organization remains “vigilant”By Jesse Paul
The Denver PostCOLORADO SPRINGS — The day after a small bomb rocked a one-story, volunteer-staffed NAACP chapter, federal and local law enforcement continued to investigate who left the exploding device and why.
Tuesday’s blast left little damage to the building, but the loud boom that resonated through modest homes in the surrounding neighborhood also rippled across the nation, spreading anger and questions. The national president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which appears to have been the target of the Colorado Springs bombing, said he is thankful no one was hurt.
“We remain vigilant,” Cornell Brooks, the president of the Baltimore-based organization, said in a statement.
The device was detonated outside the branch’s office on the 600 block of El Paso Street just before 11 a.m., knocking items off the walls and sending a “boom” through the area south of downtown. A man inside the building when the blast happened said it was so loud he couldn’t tell whether it came from inside or out.
Agents from the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were dispatched to the scene to investigate. The FBI said a gasoline can was placed next to the device but the contents did not ignite.
“We are investigating all potential motives at this time,” said Special Agent Amy Sanders, an FBI spokeswoman. “An act of domestic terrorism is certainly one possibility, in addition to many others.”
Federal authorities say they still do not know whether the NAACP chapter or the neighborboring barbershop — Mr. G’s Hair Design Studios — was the target. But the owner of that shop, Gene Southerland, says the device could not have been left for him.
“Everybody loves me,” he told an inquiring client over the phone on Wednesday morning. “I don’t have any enemies. Maybe it was my brother-in-law. I tease him sometimes.”
Southerland, who has worked out of the red-toned building he shares with the NAACP since 1967, says he can’t remember an act of hate targeting the building except for maybe a swastika drawn on the door many years ago.
“(Tuesday’s incident) just happened in broad daylight on a beautiful day,” said Southerland, who has fielded calls about the blast from The New York Times, The Washington Post and other national outlets. “It got the attention they wanted, evidently.”
A corrections officer getting his haircut from Southerland when the explosion happened said it sounded like a shotgun had been fired near his head.
As word of the blast spread across the country, anger and questions spread across social media, on Twitter through the hashtag #NAACPBombing, and news headlines. Many noted that even though the blast shed no blood, the message — one of hatred and meant to scare — was clear.
“They need to know that anybody who would commit a terrorist act like that in our state that it will not be tolerated, that we will track you down, prosecute you to the fullest extend of the law,” said Sen. Kent Lambert, a Colorado Springs Republican, at the end of the session on opening day in the legislature. “We will not tolerate that kind of violence in our society.”
On Wednesday, the only signs of the bombing were charred concrete and siding.
According to the FBI, officials are seeking a “potential person of interest,” described as a balding white male, about 40 years old. Neighbors saw a man matching his description flee after the explosion.
“He may be driving a 2000 or older model, dirty, white pickup truck with paneling, a dark-colored bed liner, open tailgate and a missing or covered license plate,” the FBI said.
The Denver office of the NAACP released a statement calling the bombing a “cowardly attempt at a criminal act that is both intolerable and morally reprehensible,” adding that it stands in solidarity with its Colorado Springs counterpart.
The NAACP’s national office released a statement saying it “looks forward to a full and thorough investigation into this matter by federal agents and local law enforcement.” The NAACP informed other offices across the nation of the bombing in Colorado.
Henry Allen Jr., the NAACP chapter president in Colorado Springs, told The Gazette the explosion was strong enough to knock items off the walls.
“We’ll move on,” Allen told the newspaper. “This won’t deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community.”
The chapter’s offices, which usually open at 10 a.m. weekdays, were empty Wednesday morning.
The FBI on Wednesday said it had no new information to release on the investigation.
Anyone with information about the explosive device should call the FBI tipline at 303-435-7787.
Staff writer John Frank contributed to this report.
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733 or jpaul@denverpost.com
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