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Man in Yale sketch identifiedSource: Pipe bomb used in Yale blast
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (CNN) -- Connecticut State Police said Thursday they've identified a man depicted in a sketch that was shown to students at Yale University's law school one day after an explosion damaged an empty classroom there. Police spokeswoman Bonnie Winchester said the man is not a suspect at this time. He was apparently identified after FBI agents showed a sketch of him to law school students in the course of interviews about the blast. The man in the sketch was seen in the building, Winchester said. FBI spokeswoman Lisa Bull said the man may be innocent, but officials wanted to find out who he is.
No one was hurt in Wednesday's blast, which a source close to the investigation said appeared to be caused by a pipe bomb. It happened around 4:40 p.m. EDT in an empty classroom and blew out a wall. A lounge next door was also damaged. Investigators picked through the rubble on their hands and knees in classroom 120 Thursday, trying to find pieces of the device and clues to who put it there. Investigators plan to try to lift fingerprints from the building's doorways and desks, Connecticut State Police spokesman, Lt. Col. Ed Lynch said Thursday. They are sifting through an "extensive" amount of rubble, he said, and the building will be closed to students for an undetermined amount of time during evidence collection. The blast came a day after the national terror threat level was raised to high. The FBI dispatched its joint terrorism task force to the scene. But law enforcement officials said there is no indication the explosion was terror-related. Neither investigators nor university officials offered a possible motive. New Haven Mayor John DeStefano said nothing indicates the bombing was anything other than "a limited event." No controversial speakers were on campus around the time of the explosion, he said.
"The suggestion is that something was placed in a vacant classroom," DeStefano told CNN, adding that investigators would not comment on whether a timing device was used. FBI Special Agent Mike Wolf said no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing and there were no threats before the blast. Law student Tali Farhadian said she was studying for an exam in a classroom when the blast went off. "We just heard an extremely loud sound. It sounded like walls really were just coming down or like a ceiling was falling or something," she said. "I had never heard anything like this before." Yale University Vice President Linda Lorimar said during her 25 years at Yale, she was not aware of any threats against the school. "The main entrance [to the building] has a person who stands at a sort of an information desk, but it's pretty much open to anybody," law student Sari Bashi told CNN. "There are often lectures and public events there, so anybody can walk in, more or less." Many other buildings on campus require key card access or have security checks. The university is on heightened security and officials are deciding whether to restrict access to public buildings. Much of the campus was empty, with undergraduate classes already done for the year. Some graduate students are still on campus, taking exams. Commencement is scheduled for Monday. "It's exam period and most exams take place in the morning, so if you were going to try to hurt somebody, you wouldn't pick this particular room at 4:45 [p.m. EDT] on this day," Bashi said. The law school will be closed through Friday with scheduled exams occurring in another building. The rest of the university will operate normally, a university statement said. Yellow crime-scene tape blocked off the area in front of the building, but the street Thursday morning was reopened to traffic. The school has experienced a bombing before. On June 24, 1993, a mail bomb exploded in the hands of Yale professor David Gelertner, the director of undergraduate studies in computer science. He was a victim of convicted "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski, who mostly targeted people at universities or high-tech companies. The bomb blinded Gelertner in one eye, tore off part of his right hand, deafened him in one ear and wounded him in the chest. There are between 600 and 700 students enrolled in Yale University Law School, out of a total university enrollment of 11,270. President Bush graduated from Yale. One of his twin daughters, Barbara Bush, goes to Yale's undergraduate school, but "like most undergraduates, she had been gone for some time when the event occurred," DeStefano said. Former President Clinton graduated from the law school, as did his wife, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton. CNN's Ronni Berke, Jamie Colby and Laura Dolan contributed to this report.
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We just heard an extremely loud sound. It sounded like walls really were just coming down or like a ceiling was falling or something.
