What was the Capitol Hill pipe bomber case? FBI announces $500,000 reward to solve Jan. 5 incident
Two years after the riots on Capitol Hill, federal investigators increased the reward for information about the person responsible for leaving two pipe bombs near the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Republican National Committee (RNC) buildings on January 5, 2021.
On Wednesday, January 4, 2023, the FBI offered $500,000 in exchange for information about the person who left two pipe bombs near the Capitol, one day before an angry mob attacked the building on January 6, 2021.
Police had previously offered a $100,000 reward to help identify the person who left the devices outside the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters on Capitol Hill. However, authorities have been unable to find the man responsible for planting the bomb.
In a press release, the FBI said that on January 5, 2021, a masked suspect wearing a hoodie and gloves and carrying a backpack planted pipe bombs near the DNC and RNC buildings. Although the bombs, found the next day, did not detonate, authorities said the live bombs could have seriously injured or killed innocent civilians.
A suspect carrying a pipe bomb was seen near the Capitol building on video
On January 5, 2021, less than twenty-four hours before an angry mob attacked the Capitol building, a masked individual wearing a hoodie, gloves and carrying a backpack through the neighborhood was seen on surveillance video.
The FBI has released video showing the unidentified person walking through the neighborhood that night before leaving two pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC building. The FBI estimated that the suspect planted the bombs between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. m. about.
Authorities also increased the reward to $500,000 for any information on the suspect responsible for the bomb threat. The threat reportedly prompted law enforcement to evacuate chair-elect Kamala Harris from the DNC headquarters when one of the pipe bombs was unearthed on the day of the riots near that location. In a press release on Wednesday, the FBI said:
“By increasing the reward for information on the pipe bomb suspect from $100,000 to $500,000, the FBI and our partners seek to encourage the American public to review our Seeking Information website, which includes images and video of the suspect, the backpack of the suspect, the suspect’s shoes, the explosive devices, and a map of the route the suspect walked the night the pipe bombs were planted.”
The FBI added that while the bombs did not go off, they could have seriously injured bystanders in the area if they had gone off.
The FBI has so far detained more than 800 people in the Capitol riot and is reportedly working with ATF and the US Capitol Police. They have conducted thousands of interviews and have amassed more than 20,000 evidence to unmask the suspect responsible for the homemade bombs.
