A bomber with a grudge against a family sent explosives hidden in tackle boxes to half a dozen places, killing five people and wounding two, authorities said Wednesday. Three people were in custody.
Four of the bombs exploded within 90 minutes Tuesday night after being delivered to farflung members of the same family across upstate New York.Rochester Police Lt. Patricia Cona said three people were brought into custody early Wednesday morning and were being questioned. She would not give any details. "It's such a complex investigation. At this point we have not made arrests," Cona said.
Two television stations, WOKR of Rochester and WGR of Buffalo, quoted unidentified police sources as saying three people were arrested, including a female relative of some of the victims and her boyfriend.
Earlier, authorities said they had a suspect."We are zeroing in on a person but I cannot divulge whom at this time," said Thomas Staebell, Erie County sheriff's chief of patrol. "All the folks injured and killed have some connection with the person we are looking at."
Authorities released a composite sketch of a man wanted for questioning: a white man in his 40s, with glasses, a moustache and a weak eye or possibly a glass eye.
The motive for the vendetta was not immediately known.
"We're trying to find out what method there is to this madness," said FBI agent Paul Moskal.
Two people were killed at an armored car garage in Cheektowaga, a Buffalo suburb; two died at an apartment house in Rochester, 70 miles to the east; and one was killed in a blast that burned a home to the ground in West Valley, 30 miles south of Buffalo. A bomb also exploded in Hogansburg, hundreds of miles away in northeastern New York, and one person was wounded there.
The bombs were delivered in brown cardboard boxes measuring about 3 inches by 12 inches by 18 inches with tape wrapped around the parcels, authorities said. Inside were metal tackle boxes containing the homemade bombs.
Several boxes carried a return address of "The Liberty Iron and Metal Company" of Erie, Pa. The bombs apparently were detonated by opening the boxes. Authorities said they had not determined the type of explosive used.
"Whoever did this knew what they were doing," said FBI agent Dave Webster.