The FBI found what it says is the largest cache of “spent explosives,” including pipe bombs, it has ever discovered and arrested a Virginia man on gun charges.
The record stock described in court documents includes 150 explosives discovered in suspect Brad Spafford’s home, where he lives with two young children.
‘Unsecured’ pipe bombs were found in a backpack and a bedroom. Devices marked as ‘lethal’ were found in a shed on the property. The explosives were found during a search in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.
A neighbor who alerted authorities, according to court papers, said Spafford would use photos of President Joe Biden for target practice at a shooting range.
He said that ‘political assassinations must come back.’ After the first attempt on Donald Trump’s life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, he told a neighbor he “hoped the shooter wouldn’t miss Kamala,” according to a report on the documents in the newspaper. Springfield Times.
The neighbor also said Spafford advanced a bizarre conspiracy theory that “missing children in the news were taken by the federal government to be trained as school shooters.”
Spafford was arrested on charges of registering a weapon. Authorities often bring a lesser charge to detain a suspect and build a case later.
Prosecutors arguing for his continued detention call him an “extreme danger to the community,” according to documents reported by Court Watch News.
Suspect Brad Spafford has been arrested on weapons charges after authorities say they found the largest cache of spent explosives ever on his Virginia farm
“Most of the devices were found in a detached garage, where the FBI also found tools and manufacturing materials, including homemade fuses and lengths of PVC pipe. “More apparent pipe bombs were found in a backpack in the bedroom of the home, completely unsecured,” the documents said.
News of the seizure comes as Washington is on high alert for Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, which is being designated as a national security event. President Joe Biden will also attend. It also comes just days after FBI Director Chris Wray announced his decision to resign before the end of his term after Trump announced plans to install loyalist Kash Patel in his post.
Congress will convene to count electoral votes on Jan. 6, the anniversary of the date four years ago when a violent mob battled police officers and breached the Capitol.
Record stash detailed in court documents includes 150 explosives discovered in suspect Brad Spafford’s home
The FBI judged this to be the largest seizure of “finished explosives” it has ever discovered
The cache was “preliminarily assessed as the largest seizure in terms of number of completed explosives in FBI history,” according to court documents.
Investigators also discovered a shipment of the explosive HMTD marked ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Do Not Touch’. The explosive, stored in the suspect’s freezer, “is so unstable that it could detonate merely as a result of friction from temperature changes,” according to court papers.
A notebook contained ‘recipes’ for explosives.
Spafford was arraigned on December 10. The investigation began when a confidential source “who was the suspect’s neighbor and friend reported that the suspect had disfigured his hand in 2021 while working with a homemade explosive, and that he was stockpiling weapons and homemade ammunition.”
“The defendant has used photographs of the president for target practice, has expressed support for political assassinations, and recently sought qualifications in local range sniper shooting,” the papers said.
“There is not a shred of evidence in the record that Mr. Spafford ever threatened anyone and the claim that anyone could be in danger because of his political views and comments is nonsensical,” his lawyers wrote in their own filing asking for his release . He has “no criminal record and no history of substance abuse or mental illness,” they argued.