DENVER — The man arrested for planting a small bomb outside a Colorado Springs building said he was targeting a tax preparer, not the NAACP.
Thaddeus Cheyenne Murphy, 44, was arrested late Thursday and charged with arson and being a felon in possession of firearms in connection with an explosive device placed outside an office building Jan. 6 on South El Paso Street in Colorado Springs.
It was widely assumed that the pipe bomb, which did minor surface damage to the outside of the building, was aimed at the NAACP branch office located in the building, but Mr. Murphy told investigators that he was angry at his tax preparer.
He said the accountant, Steve Dehaven, whose office is also located in the building, “wouldn’t return his tax records from 2006 to the present and wouldn’t return his phone calls,” according to the complaint filed Friday in federal court.
“Murphy stated that he ’flipped out’ because of his financial problems,” the complaint said. “Murphy built the pipe bomb as a warning to Steve Dehaven.”
The day of the bombing, ThinkProgress ran the headline, “A Colorado NAACP office was bombed today,” and noted in the article that, “Although the apparent bomber’s motives are not yet known, bombings were a common terrorist tactic during the Jim Crow era.”
U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman Jeff Dorschner said Friday that the investigation is ongoing. The Colorado Springs police, FBI, ATF and U.S. Attorney’s office are involved in the probe.
“We’re still investigating to see if this was his motive,” Mr. Dorschner said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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