The makeshift explosive device found in a smoky mall hallway in Jefferson County on Wednesday morning had a community on edge and investigators searching for both a “person of interest” and a motive Thursday.
At a joint news conference, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office asked for the public’s help in identifying a man captured on video at Southwest Plaza about the time of the small fire late Wednesday morning.
“There’s an urgency to find the individual for all the obvious reasons,” said Sheriff Ted Mink.
While the FBI announced that its Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the case, authorities privately were downplaying the idea of domestic terrorism to elected officials and other law enforcement.
They said the explosive device was small and poorly constructed — likely not the work of a person with bomb-building expertise.
The greatest damage from the incident — occurring less than 2 miles from Columbine High School on the 12th anniversary of the attacks there — seemed to be psychological.
Stony Creek Elementary was evacuated Thursday after staff became concerned that a man who had stopped to use the bathroom had left a backpack behind.
The incident turned out to be nothing, a sheriff’s spokesman said. But while authorities were investigating, 25 other Jefferson County schools were placed on “lockout,” where doors to schools are locked but students continued with business as usual inside.
Dustin Juceam, 21, whose family owns the Toy Box store at Southwest Plaza, said the mall was much quieter than usual Thursday.
And Cindy Sear, another mall employee, held back tears as she returned to work. “I was fine yesterday,” she said, “but this morning it’s scary.”
Photos released by authorities show a white male with graying hair and a silver mustache. He is wearing a dark cap with a light-colored logo on the front, a gray and white horizontally striped shirt, a dark jacket with silver buttons, blue jeans and dark-colored shoes.
In one of the photos, the man is seen entering a hallway through an entrance typically used only by employees about 11:43 a.m. Wednesday.
Nine minutes later, a security officer called 911 to report a fire in that same hallway.
The security guard used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire before firefighters arrived, said Cindy Matthews, spokeswoman for West Metro Fire Rescue. No one was injured.
Authorities evacuated the mall after finding the two propane tanks. A few hours later, after searching the rest of the mall at 8501 Bowles Ave., they found a poorly constructed pipe bomb near the propane.
Police have refused to comment on the size of the propane tanks or on how much damage they think the device could have done.
In the hallway photo and another taken on an escalator, the man is carrying a Target shopping bag.
A Target spokesperson said Thursday that staff at the nearby Super Target are “working closely” with law enforcement. She referred all other questions to local authorities.
The FBI did not release any information about how the devices were made or whether the fire was an attempt to ignite the devices.
Authorities are still conducting interviews with witnesses, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Jim Yacone.
While there are similarities between the mall incident and the Columbine attacks, Mink said there was no definite link as of Thursday afternoon.
Retired FBI profiler Clint Van Zandt said that although he has no firsthand knowledge of the investigation, he thinks that if there were a link between the Columbine anniversary and the attempted bombing at Southwest Plaza, profilers would expect a young person to be involved in the incident.
Anyone with information can call 303-271-5615.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona contributed to this report.
Sara Burnett: 303-954-1661 or sburnett@denverpost.com
