Authorities arrested an Idaho man on Thursday who was in possession of a Molotov cocktail fire bomb — the same type of explosive that was thrown at the Bannock County Courthouse the day before.
Pocatello police have charged 29-year-old Christopher Griffin with throwing the first explosive on Wednesday and said he was en route to throw another when he was arrested, the Idaho State Journal reported. Courthouse camera footage shows a person throwing the fire bomb that landed on a sidewalk. Nobody was injured and the sidewalk sustained minor damage.
The damage wasn't even noticed until courthouse employees arrived for work and saw broken glass and burn marks on the concrete. The employees didn't know what had happened, but they reported the damage to the sheriff's office.
Investigators found out that Griffin filled a glass bottle with gasoline early Wednesday morning at a gas station. When Griffin returned to the same gas station early Thursday morning to fill up another bottle, someone tipped off Pocatello police, who caught up with him.
Griffin is in Bannock County jail on felony arson charges in connection to the first Molotov cocktail thrown at the courthouse. If he is convicted, he faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. His bond has been set at $100,000.
Authorities said they have no idea what would've caused Griffin to throw the fire bomb.
There have been many bomb threats called into the Bannock County Courthouse over the years, but there's never been an actual bomb thrown at the courthouse, Bannock County Sheriff's Lorin Nielsen said.