Police arrest suspect in DC pipe bomb incident, ending years-long manhunt

Authorities have arrested a Virginia man in connection with two pipe bombs planted outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees on the eve of the Capitol riot nearly five years ago on Jan. 6.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI officials said 30-year-old Brian Cole was arrested without incident early Thursday morning. He has been charged with using an explosive device and may face other charges as the investigation continues.

The arrest ends a years-long manhunt for the attackers The mystery of who planted the bomb involves an extensive investigation and a $500,000 (£375,000) reward.

The pipe bomb was safely deactivated and did not explode.

Officials said the FBI received no new information or leads that would solve the case. Investigators sifted through existing evidence collected over the years, including about 3 million lines of data, to identify Cole, a 30-year-old man from the Woodbridge community, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Washington, D.C.

U.S. Attorney Jeanne Pirro said the Trump administration has made resolving the case a priority.

“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” she said.

Investigators determined that Cole allegedly purchased multiple bomb-making components in 2019 and 2020, according to court documents filed in the case.

He purchased metal “end caps,” wire and steel wool at Home Depot and Lowes Hardware Stores, batteries at another retailer and a timer at a Walmart in northern Virginia, an FBI affidavit said.

Investigators found mobile phone data showing that Cole was near the site where the pipe bomb was planted between 19:39 and 20:24 local time on January 5, 2021.

His car – a 2017 Nissan Sentra with Virginia license plates – was also spotted by a license plate reader less than half a mile (0.8 kilometers) from where the person who placed the device was first seen in the area.

Bundy said at a news conference Thursday that authorities could not yet provide a possible motive for the crime, and many details have not been made public because the FBI had just executed a search warrant on the suspect’s home during the morning arrest.

FBI officials praised investigators for their perseverance and said they never gave up looking for the suspects.

“We continue to process large amounts of data,” said Darren Cox, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Earlier this year, the FBI released CCTV footage showing a man wearing a backpack and a light gray hooded sweater placing something near a bench outside the Democratic National Committee building in Washington. The man was later shown walking to plant the second bomb.

Both were placed the night before the Jan. 6 riot and were not discovered until rioters began storming the U.S. Capitol.

U.S. senators were meeting there to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Joe Biden won over Donald Trump.

Then-President Trump addressed a large crowd of supporters at a rally near the White House, urging them to march “peacefully” to the U.S. Capitol, but he also made unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud.

The crowd numbered between 2,000 and 2,500 people and included members of far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Many carry weapons.

Hundreds of people then forced their way into the building through doors and windows, overwhelming the police. It took law enforcement nearly four hours to restore order.

Police said at the time that the disturbance began when a passerby discovered two pipe bombs. Items allegedly left behind included pipes, electrical wiring, a kitchen timer and homemade black powder, according to the FBI.

According to CBS, the bombs had a way to detonate: a 60-minute kitchen timer. But for unknown reasons, they did not explode.

Police have been searching for the suspect ever since.

Many people convicted or charged in connection with the riots were pardoned by Trump earlier this year, shortly after he took office for his second term in January.

More than 1,500 people were pardoned or had their sentences commuted. Trump also ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to drop all pending cases against other suspects.

At the time, Trump referred to the defendants and convicted hostages as “hostages” and said their lives had been “destroyed.”

“What they did to these people was an outrage. There has been very little like this in the history of our country,” he said.

“When you attack American citizens, when you attack our nation’s capital, you attack the very essence of our way of life,” Patel told a news conference.

“We will deliver the safest this country has ever been,” he added.

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the case showed that people can’t “walk into our capital,” install a device and “walk off into the sunset,” adding that U.S. law enforcement will “track you to the ends of the earth.”