April 11 (UPI) — An Alabama man has been arrested and charged with detonating an explosive device outside the Montgomery office of the state’s attorney general in late February, prosecutors said.
The suspect, Kyle Benjamin Douglas Calvert, 26, of Irondale, Ala., was arrested by law enforcement Wednesday and indicted on federal charges of malicious use of an explosive and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
If convicted, Calvert faces between five and 20 years in prison. He made his first court appearance in Montgomery at about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday
The detonation occurred outside the office of Alabama Attorney General Steven Marshall on Feb. 24 at about 3:342 a.m. No one was injured in the blast and no damage was sustained by the building, officials said.
“My staff and I are breathing a collective sigh of relief this morning knowing that this individual has been taken off the streets,” Marshall said Wednesday in a statement.
“Although more information will be provided in the weeks to come, I think it is safe to say that this was not a random act of violence. We are grateful to our federal and local partners for their assistance in this matter and are pleased that the offender faces federal charges carrying significant prison time.”
Court documents unsealed Wednesday and obtained by NBC News state Calvert held anti-government beliefs and espoused violence as a solution to achieve the ends he sought.
Federal prosecutors described the device in court documents as having the characteristics of an improvised explosive device.
“Calvert added a substantial number of nails and other shrapnel to increase its destructive capability,” the prosecutors wrote, adding the suspect expressed the “belief that violence should be directed against the government, and he has described his inability to control his own violent, aggressive impulses.”
The arrest comes after the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency in late February called on the public for help to identify a person of interested, who is now believed to be Calvert, seen in a nine-second clip of surveillance footage walking with a halting gait down an empty street at night.
Last month, the ALEA, the Alabama attorney general’s office and the FBI in Mobile released a statement renewing the public call for anyone with information about the detention to contact them.
“Thanks to the work of the FBI and our state and local law enforcement partners, this defendant is being held accountable for allegedly detonating an explosive device outside of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
“The Justice Department has no tolerance for acts of violence targeting those who serve the public.”
