Authorities linked a large explosive device that went off outside a Santa Monica synagogue to a Santa Monica man based on a receipt found at the scene, according to an federal arrest warrant.
The warrant said the receipt was for three 11-pound bags of a “demolition agent” purchased in Clovis, Calif., on April 1. The package was sent to suspect Ron Hirsch, 60, at a Santa Monica address, officials said.
Officials also found at the scene plumbing tape, empty dry ice bags, five pieces of rebar, bags of cement and a steel pipe wrench, according to the warrant, which was reviewed by The Times on Tuesday.
Hirsch was arrested near a Chabad House in the Ohio city of Cleveland Heights. He is accused of setting off a large explosive device Thursday at the Santa Monica Chabad House.
On Monday afternoon, the FBI released images from a surveillance camera at a Greyhound station in Denver, which showed Hirsch walking through the building and standing at a counter.
It was unclear whether he took a bus from Colorado to Ohio. Authorities stressed late Monday that the investigation was ongoing and that additional details would be released as they became available.
Hirsch is believed responsible for last week’s blast that sent a 300-pound metal pipe encased in concrete crashing through the roof of a home next to the synagogue, on 17th Street near Broadway. No one was injured.
Authorities at first said the blast was accidental but later determined that explosives had been used.
Hirsch, also known as Israel Fisher, was described by authorities as a transient who frequented Jewish synagogues and community centers in search of charity. Among them was the Congregation Bais Yehuda on North La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles.
The FBI; the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Los Angeles Police Department; the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department; and the Santa Monica police and fire departments were investigating the incident.
ABC News quoted a rabbi in Cleveland Heights as saying Hirsch was seen inside his synagogue.
“A fellow in our community spotted him in the shul on Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights,” said Rabbi Sruly Wolf. “The rabbi who spotted him called the Cleveland Heights police, who immediately responded and called the FBI.”
(Source: LA Times)
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9 Responses
uummm… i thought the story was that the social worker in the ohio synagogue said he reported him after working with him all day and then noticed him on the news, and i thought he said he shaved his beard… this story keeps changing and to be honest doesnt make any sense at all. why not just tell the truth?
He wasn’t spotted near a “Cabad House”, but was recognized by a Baal Chesed who took care of him, and then was arrested in the Kollel in the Agudah Shul. Chabad had nothing to do with it.
I’m this Rabbi’s neighbor.
i am in cleveland and met the fellow he removed his beard. the picture is not from when he was arrested it must be an old picture even though it looks like a picture of his arrest. he was trying to stay in the hachnosas orchim(he asked me to take him there) but since he could not properly identify himself, he was not given permission to stay there. these are the facts
A receipt for 33 pounds of explosives? They actually give receipts for that?…”Hi, I think I bought the wrong 33 pounds of demolition agent. Do you have anything in a smaller kaboom-size?”
He has already been labeled”disturbed”, “needs help” and other pitiful labels. Why can’t he be labled a terrorist?
takingabreak, the arrest picture above with his beard shows him holding a sign that says “cleaveland heights” on it. so he must have been arrested there before then? i wonder what for, the last picture with the blue background seems like it was either a license photo or another arrest photo.
No. 6: So far, neither the bomber (who may or may not be the current suspect) nor anyone else has expressed a political, religious or moral motive for the explosion. The words “terrorist” and “terrorism” are usually used when a perpetrator of murder, assault, mayhem or vandalism has a motive other than money, revenge or the bizarre thrill of committing a dangerous crime.
to 6h…. iknow the picture indicates that he has a beard but apparently this was not the actual picture taken now. they seem to have put the old picture with the current event. as i said, he had no beard when he came to shul and that was in the flesh not some picture