Pentagon Bomb Scare Suspect Named

gretavo's picture

How shady. I wonder what Yonathan was planning to do with his explosives in Arlington National Cemetery?

latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-naw-pentagon-suspicious-vehicle-20110617,0,334454.story

latimes.com
Suspect identified in Pentagon bomb scare investigation
From the Associated Press

9:55 AM PDT, June 17, 2011

ARLINGTON, Va.

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A law enforcement official is identifying the suspect with suspicious materials in a backpack near the Pentagon as a Virginia man who is originally from Ethiopia.

A law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity identified the suspect as Yonathan Melaku. The official says Melaku is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ethiopia. Bomb-sniffing dogs have been sent to his home in Fairfax County, Va.

Melaku was detained early Friday after he was found inside Arlington National Cemetery in the middle of the night. Melaku is in custody, but he has not been charged with anything.

Another official who spoke on the condition of anonymity says the man had what appeared to be an unknown quantity of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound that can be used in explosives.

During the course of the investigation, officers searched a nearby car, a red 2011 Nissan that was parked in the bushes near a parking lot at the Pentagon, but found nothing suspicious inside, said Brenda Heck, special agent in charge of the counterterrorism unit of the FBI's Washington field office.

Roads around the Pentagon were closed in response to the incident, snarling traffic in the area.