[url]http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134449987_webarrest07.html[/url]
[b]Man sought in mailbox bombings arrested in Nevada[/b]

[i]By Scott Sonner
The Associated Press[/i]

RENO, Nev. — The 21-year-old college student wanted for questioning in the string of pipe bombs left in mailboxes across the Midwest was arrested today outside Reno, the FBI said.

Luke J. Helder of Pine Island, Minn., was taken into custody after dropping at least one gun out the car window, said Alan Davidson, spokesman for the Nevada Highway Patrol.

"It is him," said Gayle Jacobs, an FBI spokeswoman in Las Vegas.

His capture comes just eight hours after the FBI issued an all-points bulletin for Helder and said it wanted to question him about the 18 pipe bombs left in mailboxes in five states since Friday.

His father, at the family’s home in Minnesota, also pleaded with Helder: "Please don’t hurt anyone else. ... You have the attention you wanted."

Six people have been wounded — none seriously — by the bombs that were left in mailboxes in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and Texas. Most of the bombs were accompanied by the notes warning that more "attention getters" on the way.

FBI agent Jim Bogner in Omaha, where the investigation is centered, had described Helder as "a person of interest." He refused to say how he became part of the case.

But a college newspaper in Wisconsin said it gave the FBI a seven-page letter today that it received over the weekend and was signed with Helder’s name.

The letter was postmarked in Omaha on Friday — the day the first bombs were found, in Iowa and Illinois, and a day before bombs turned up in Nebraska — and its first page is identical to the anti-government notes found with the bombs.

The letter also said, in part: "I will die/change in the end for this, but that’s ok, hahaha paradise awaits!"

The FBI refused comment when asked about the letter sent to The Badger Herald at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At Helder’s family home an hour’s drive southeast of Minneapolis, his father, Cameron, read a statement urging his son to call home.

"I really want you to know that Luke is not a dangerous person," Cameron Helder said. "I think he’s just trying to make a statement about the way our government is run. I think Luke wants people to listen to his ideas, and not enough people are hearing him, and he thinks this may help."

He added: "Luke, you need to talk to someone. Please don’t hurt anyone else. It’s time to talk. You have the attention you wanted. Luke, we love you very much. We want you home safe."

Helder was enrolled as a junior majoring in art and industrial design at the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Menomonie, 60 miles from his home, but had apparently not attended classes since at least April 24. He played guitar and sang in a punk rock band called Apathy.

On a Web site for the band, two songs were posted, "Conformity" and "Back and Black," but the lyrics were unintelligible.

The issue of conformity is a theme in the anti-government notes, which say, in part: "To ‘live’ (avoid death) in this society you are forced to conform/slave away. I’m here to help you realize/ understand that you will live no matter what!"

[Too bad he didn't stay apathetic.]

WOW!! That was pretty fast!!

Sgtar15

Maybe his dad knows more about this than we do.  I don't think you have to blindly advocate your childrens innocence to support them.  

Yeah I noticed that myself...
But it kind of fits, this kid is gonna turn out to be a somewhat overgrown version of a school shooter.

One would assume someone who "played guitar and sang in a punk rock band called Apathy" wouldn't get so excited about anything. Obviously, this dumb ass is not apthetic!

"18 pipe bombs left in mailboxes in five states since Friday.

Damn, that sombitch has been busy...