Sunday, July 7, 2013

Suspect arrested with Molotov cocktails had maps to Seattle colleges, police say

Ted S. Warren / AP

Justin Jasper, 21, appears at a bail hearing on Friday in Seattle.

By Daniel Arkin and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News

Prosecutors say the Nevada man arrested near the University of Washington campus?with weapons and explosives also had anti-government propaganda and directions to three Seattle colleges.

Justin Miles Jasper, 21, is being held in King County, Wash., in lieu of $2 million bail, said the county's senior deputy prosecutor Andrew Hamilton.

King County Judge Arthur R. Chapman said at a Friday bail hearing that he considered Jasper a flight risk and a threat, according to The Associated Press.

Montana authorities said Jasper had stolen a pickup truck and several firearms from a truck driver who gave him a place to stay in Butte for the last month, the AP reported.


Authorities who searched the truck after Jasper's arrest found a stolen scoped rifle, a stolen shotgun, body armor, three knives, a machete and six Molotov cocktails, Hamilton said.

Prosecutors announced Friday that investigators had also uncovered propaganda materials -- including a recording of a podcast -- in which Jasper allegedly addressed the political upheaval in Syria and Brazil and expressed anti-government sentiments, Hamilton said.

"There was a sheet of paper that had block, printed letters. It said something to the effect of: Are you aware of the Syrian revolution?" Hamilton said. "It was definitely political in nature."

The suspect was also found with directions to three college campuses: the University of Washington, Seattle University and South Seattle Community College, Hamilton said.

After a police pursuit, Jasper was arrested near Seattle Children's Hospital late Wednesday, a short drive from the UW campus, said John Vinson, chief of the university's police department. He provided no additional details of the pursuit, but described the arrest as "high-risk."

Campus police first encountered Jasper on Tuesday when they discovered him sleeping in the stolen truck, Vinson said. A records check turned up empty, so the man was sent on his way.

But on Wednesday morning, the truck showed up as having been stolen in Montana, police said, and when it was spotted on campus around 10:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. Thursday ET), officers gave pursuit.

Authorities said Thursday they believed there was no longer any threat to the university community, but they said the FBI had joined what they called a "very active criminal investigation."

Jasper is believed to have no ties to the Seattle area, investigators said.

Related story:?Guns, Molotov cocktails, stolen truck: Seattle arrest

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