Three people were arrested for the bombings of a courthouse and Fed Ex building in San Diego. Shockingly the attacks don’t seem to be politically motivated at all, but prosecutors aren’t saying what the motive was for the bombings:
SAN DIEGO – Three people have been charged in connection with two pipe bomb explosions that damaged the downtown federal courthouse and a FedEx building earlier this year, authorities announced Wednesday morning.
Rachelle Lynette Carlock, 31; Ella Louise Sanders, 59; and Eric Reginald Robinson, 43; were named in the 17 count indictment that includes charges of using a weapon of mass destruction, U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt said at a morning news conference.
The indictment alleges all three defendants from San Diego conspired to construct, test and detonate a series of bombs, including the ones used at the courthouse and the FedEx building. It also accused the trio of stealing material from Home Depot and obtaining explosive materials from an El Cajon gun shop.
Hewitt said she could not discuss a possible motive for the bombings and said the investigation continues.
The indictment against the three can be found in .pdf format here. In the indictment 59-year-old Ella Sanders is said to have been recently convicted (though not yet sentenced) for violating California’s Health and Safety code section 11350, which is a very minor drug beef where fines and probation are recommended. Could avoiding probation be the motive for all this madness?
Rachelle Carlock is a piece of work. She used a stolen identity to buy Hodgen’s Triple Se7en powder for the bombs and made gun store clerks suspicious when she refused to allow them to photocopy her identification. There’s a separate .pdf just detailing the case against her which is rock solid. Carlock has a colorful criminal history as well:
Rachelle Carlock is being held without bond pending a hearing Wednesday in El Centro.
Court records show she stole a bottle of beer in 1998 from a Southcrest store, then ran from security guards and threw the bottle at them. She pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and was sentenced to two years in prison.
In 1996, San Diego police responded to a domestic dispute between Carlock and her boyfriend. She told them her boyfriend had killed an El Cajon man and the boyfriend was later sentenced to a minimum of 25 years for murder.
Carlock has a hearing set for October 7th. Eric Robinson seems to have been mainly the getaway driver.
Lest this all start to sound humorous it should be noted that the devices were packed with nails to create deadly shrapnel. It was by luck and not design that some innocent passerby wasn’t maimed or killed by these morons.
My bet is that drugs were involved in the decision making process here, especially because it seems like the bombings were fairly pointless.
h/t N.T.A.