The FBI and multiple Los Angeles law enforcement agencies held a joint press conference Monday to announce that they'd disrupted a Southern California bomb plot planned for New Year's Eve, according to PBS. Four suspects were allegedly testing their bombs in San Bernardino County this past Friday, as seen below in FBI surveillance footage, and SFGate reports they were planning to detonate the bombs in at least five different Southern California locations on New Year's Eve.
The arrest marks the first time investigators have identified a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is the violent Capitol siege. The suspect in custody has been identified as Brian Cole Jr, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
At approximately 7:39:27 p.m., the COLE CELLPHONE interacted with a particular sector of Provider tower 59323, which faces southeast (approximately 120˚) from its location at 103 G Street, Southwest in Washington, D.C. ("Sector A"). Also at 7:39:27 p.m., the COLE CELLPHONE interacted with a particular sector of Provider tower 126187, which faces east (approximately 90˚) from its location at 200 Independence Avenue, Southwest in Washington, D.C. ("Sector B").
I know some people have given up on finding the perpetrator. But not the FBI and not our partners, said Darren Cox, a deputy assistant director in the FBI. He explained that the investigation involved sorting through 3 million lines of data. We do not forget, we do not give up, and we do not relent. Though it had been nearly five years, our team continued to churn through massive amounts of data and tips that we used to identify this suspect, Cox said.
US authorities have made an arrest in connection with pipe bombs that were planted outside the headquarters of both the Democratic and Republican parties in Washington DC on the eve of 6 January 2021, according to reports on Thursday morning. Explosive devices were placed at night and then, on the afternoon of January 6, the US Capitol attack occurred, when a mob of Donald Trump's supporters stormed Congress in an effort to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential election.
