As news broke of Brian Cole’s arrest by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), scenes from the suspect’s home on January 6, 2021 in Washington DC went viral on social media.
Cole was arrested Thursday morning following a nearly five-year investigation into the discovery of pipe bombs outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington, DC, on a day of unrest at the US Capitol.
The bombs were planted on the evening of January 5, 2021, and at that time investigators identified the suspect behind the placement of the potentially deadly bombs and launched a manhunt that finally ended on Thursday.
Videos go viral
Videos, including footage taken from helicopters, showed a heavy police presence as officers surrounded what they believed to be the 30-year-old suspect’s home in Prince William County, Woodbridge, Virginia, about 35 miles from Washington, DC.
Visuals also showed FBI officials barricading the scene and discussing something.
The suspect is due to be arraigned in federal court in Washington DC at 1pm local time.
FBI Director Kash Patel welcomes the victory
“I’m proud to stand before you and say we’ve solved this. He’s going to have his day in court. The American public and the world will learn even more through the legal process,” FBI Director Kash Patel said Thursday in announcing Cole’s arrest.
Patel also posted a lengthy post on X praising investigators for closing the nearly five-year investigation.
“When Dan Bongin and I came to the FBI in March, the pipe bomb investigation had been on hold for 5 years,” Patel wrote.
“We rebuilt it from the ground up — re-running every lead, re-testing every piece of evidence, bringing in top experts and deploying new technology to create the breakthrough that finally nailed the suspect,” the FBI director said.
“Today is the result of this excellent 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 that delivers results for the American people,” the FBI chief concluded.
