Federal authorities on April 10 arrested a man they believe is responsible for the explosive device that detonated outside of the Alabama Attorney General’s office in late February, the Associated Press reported.
According to an April 10 press release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama, 26-year-old Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert of Ironside was charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device and malicious use of an explosive in connection to the detonation in downtown Montgomery in the early hours of Saturday, February 24.
The device detonated at about 3:52 a.m. outside of the attorney general’s office. No one was injured in the explosion and no nearby structures reported any significant damage.
According to prosecutors, the homemade device was a coffee can packed with nails and metal screws, fireworks, and materials soaked in an accelerant.
According to the US Attorney’s office, a security guard from the Southern Poverty Law Center contacted 911 to report the explosion. A responding officer was unable to see any immediate physical evidence of the device. However, when staff from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office arrived the following Monday morning, they discovered “remnants of a possible explosive device,” the US Attorney’s office said.
Court documents reveal that Calvert had posted a video on social media in mid-December voicing his frustration with the government. Prosecutors also suspect that Calvert was responsible for stickers that were placed on state government buildings on the same night as the explosion, including some that read, “Support your local Antifa.”
Calvert appeared in a Montgomery federal court on April 10 where US Magistrate Judge Chad Bryan remanded him in custody pending further hearings.
Attorney General Marshall said he and his staff were “breathing a collective sigh of relief” now that Calvert had been “taken off the streets.” Marshall said while further information would likely be revealed in the coming weeks, he concluded that the bomb “was not a random act of violence.”
