As news about Brian Cole's arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) broke, scenes from outside the 6 Jan 2021 Washington DC pipe bomb case suspect's home went viral on social media.
Cole was arrested on Thursday morning after a near five-year-long investigation into the case, in which pipe bombs were discovered outside the headquarters of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington DC on the day of the US Capitol riots.
The bombs had been planted on the evening of 5 January 2021, and investigators at the time identified a hooded suspect behind the placing of the potentially lethal bombs, setting off a manhunt that finally concluded on Thursday.
Videos go viral
Videos, including footage taken from helicopters, showed heavy police presence as officers surrounded what they believed was the 30-year-old suspect's home in Prince William County, Woodbridge, Virginia, around 25 miles from Washington, DC.
Visuals showed also FBI officials barricading the scene, as and discussing something.
The suspect is set to be arraigned in a federal court in Washington DC at 1 pm local time.
FBI Director Kash Patel hails victory
“I'm proud to stand here before you and say we solved it. He will have his day in court. The American public and the world will learn even more information through the legal process,” said FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday, announcing Cole's arrest.
Patel also put out a lengthy post on X lauding investigators for wrapping up an investigation that had been going on for nearly five years.
“When Dan Bongino and I came to the FBI in March, the pipe bomb investigation had been stalled for going on 5 years,” Patel wrote.
“We rebuilt it from scratch - re-running every lead, re-testing every piece of evidence, bringing in top experts, and deploying new technology to engineer the break that finally nailed the suspect,” the FBI Director said.
“Today is result of that outstanding work. We didn’t need new evidence - just new leaders, and a new President @realDonaldTrump willing to let good cops be cops,” Patel wrote, praising US President Donald Trump.
“This is a focused, rebuilt FBI delivering results for the American people,” the FBI chief concluded.
