Mailbox bomb suspect caught

Associated Press And The Washington Post

RENO, Nev. — An armed 21-year-old college art student and leader of a garage rock band was charged Tuesday in connection with the five-state string of mailbox pipe bombs.

Luke John Helder of Pine Island, Minn., was pulled over after a 40-mile chase that reached 100 mph.

After his license plate and car description were broadcast nationwide Tuesday, a motorist on Interstate 80 spotted Helder’s westbound vehicle and tipped off authorities.

FBI agent Terry Hulse said Helder telephoned his parents during the chase and was patched through to an FBI negotiator.

"He requested not to be tackled," Davidson said. "He surrendered the gun and was taken into custody without incident."

Bomb squads found explosive devices in the car, said Richard Kirkland, Nevada Public Safety director.

Helder is expected to be jailed in Reno, and federal prosecutors in Iowa charged him with using an explosive to maliciously destroy property affecting interstate commerce and with using a destructive device to commit a crime of violence. Charges were also expected to be filed in Illinois.

The capture came just eight hours after the FBI issued an all-points bulletin for Helder.

Six people were wounded — none seriously — by bombs left in mailboxes in Illinois and Iowa. The other 12 bombs found in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas did not explode.

A junior art major at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, Wis., where he is focusing on industrial design, Helder hardly fits the profile of the culprit initially sought by federal investigators, who had suggested that the suspect was an older male with a grudge against the government.

Instead, Helder appears more the angst-ridden college student. He sang and played guitar for a Rochester, Minn., rock trio named Apathy. Former high school classmates in Pine Island said Helder loved the grunge band Nirvana and was preoccupied with the group’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide.

According to a Web page for Apathy, the band’s small-label album, "Sacks of People," included a song called "Conformity."

"It’s a story how I’m supposed to feel/Because you tell me so," Helder sings on an Internet recording of the song. "It’s a time when/When the pain comes."

Most of the bombs were accompanied by rambling typewritten letters complaining about "conforming to the boundaries and restrictions imposed by the government," and asserts, "In avoiding death you are forced to conform, if you fail to conform, you suffer mentally and physically."

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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