Xcel Center RNC Convention – Man Planned To Set Off Homemade Bomb
September 3, 2008 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
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A 23-year-old Michigan man allegedly plotted to set off a homemade bomb in the tunnels near the Xcel Energy Center, hoping it would cause a power outage and lead officials to call off the Republican National Convention, according to charges filed in federal court in Minneapolis.
Matthew B. DePalma of Flint, Mich., has been charged with illegally possessing Molotov cocktails. He was arrested Saturday at an apartment in south Minneapolis and made his first court appearance Tuesday, according to a statement released Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney’s office. His next hearing is scheduled for Friday.
According to the news release, DePalma spent about 90 minutes at the Hennepin County Library on Aug. 18 researching recipes for homemade bombs. He bought the supplies for Molotov cocktails on Aug. 21 and 22.
The news release said that according to an FBI affidavit, DePalma said that if he could bomb the Xcel Center on Sept. 1, “they might call off the convention.”
