Police arrested 44-year-old Thaddeus Murphy on suspicion of arson and another weapons charge Thursday in connection with an explosion near a NAACP office in Colorado Springs.
Murphy told federal investigators that "the target of his criminal actions was not the NAACP, but that he had a different motive." The FBI is still investigating what that motive was.
On Jan. 6, a homemade explosive was detonated outside a barbershop next door to the NAACP's Colorado Springs chapter. Days later, the FBI began investigating whether the explosion was a
case of domestic terrorism.
Investigators eventually found Murphy based on descriptions of a balding white man who drove a truck leaving the scene.
Agents and officers searched Murphy's home and found "seven firearms, and devices similar to the one used at the building," according to the Justice Department.
If convicted of arson, Murphy will spend at least five years in prison and faces up to a $250,000 fine. If convicted of being a felon in possession of firearms, he faces a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine.
Murphy is scheduled to appear in the Arraj Federal Courthouse at 2 p.m. Friday.
