Explosion at NAACP Building in Colorado Was a Bomb

The FBI is seeking a man who is a person of interest following an explosion at an NAACP building in Colorado Springs.

FBI Denver spokesperson Amy Sanders told reporters an improvised explosive device caused the explosion that occurred at the Colorado Springs NAACP building on South El Paso Street at 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday. She said a can of gas was discovered near the device but did not ignite when the device went off.

According to the LA Times, the FBI does have a person of interest the agency is investigating:

A man aged about 40 is a person of interest in the investigation. He may be driving a 2000 or older-model dirty white pick-up truck with paneling, a dark-colored bed liner, an open tailgate and a missing or covered license plate.

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It’s not clear whether anyone was inside the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People office when the explosion occurred, but Gene Southerland, whose barbershop is in the same single-story building as the NAACP, said he heard the explosion Tuesday morning.

No one was injured in the explosion but the sidewalk and the building suffered some minor damages, according to the Associated Press. People heard a loud, solitary “boom” but no one reported seeing any fire.

The organization shares the building with the barber shop, whose customers are predominantly black. Chapter President Henry Allen Jr. told The Colorado Springs Gazette the blast was strong enough to knock items off the walls. He said he was hesitant to call the explosion a hate crime without more information but said the organization will move on.

“This won’t deter us from doing the job we want to do in the community,” Allen told reporters.