Copyright 1995 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY
April 25, 1995, Tuesday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8A
LENGTH: 389 words
HEADLINE: Unabom-like blast kills 1 in Calif.
BYLINE: Judy Keen
DATELINE: SACRAMENTO
BODY:
A serial bomber with a penchant for wood probably was behind Monday's bombing at the offices of a timber industry lobbying group that killed one man, investigators said.
"Similarities . . . strongly suggest the Unabomber," FBI agent Richard Ross said. The elusive Unabom suspect has set off at least 17 bombs over a 15-year period, killing three and injuring 23.
If confirmed as a Unabom case, the bombing would be the second here attributed to the suspect. In 1985, a computer store owner was killed.
In the latest blast, a heavy, shoebox-size package was delivered by U.S. mail to the offices of the California Forestry Association, a mill and logger lobbying group, just blocks from the state Capitol building.
Officials say the bomber sometimes carves bomb parts from wood or packages bombs in wood, and uses fake return addresses that include references to wood.
The victim was identified as Gilbert Murray of Roseville, said Sacramento Police Department spokesman Michael Heenan. Murray, 47, the group's executive director, was married with three children.
The package was addressed to a specific person in the office, but Heenan would not say who.
A pregnant woman, one of six people inside the single-story brick building at the time, was hospitalized. The others weren't injured.
Heenan said no threats or claims of responsibility were phoned in.
Firefighters, police, postal inspectors and U.S. marshals converged on the scene and the block was cordoned off. Local TV broadcasters aired urgent reports that noted the incident was not believed to be "an Oklahoma City-type conflagration."
Mike Duale, who was walking on the street when the blast occurred, said, "I thought what those people in Oklahoma City probably thought - 'Oh, Lord, what is this?' "
There was no visible damage to the building's exterior, but Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Jan Dunbar said windows were shattered, interior doors blown off their hinges and ceiling tiles blasted loose.
"It did not do any structural damage - that is, blow walls out," he said.
The FBI code-named the bombing case Unabom since the bomber's targeted universities and airlines.
"A civilized society cannot tolerate these sorts of heinous actions," Gov. Pete Wilson said.
FBI reward: $ 1 million.
Contributing: Steve Marshall in Arlington, Va.
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