Authorities have arrested the man suspected of delivering a hand grenade concealed in a coffee cup to the Bridgeport Police Department in February.
Morris Roberts, 42, was arrested at his Bridgeport home on Thursday on a federal criminal complaint, appeared before United Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel and has been detained.
The criminal complaint alleges that Roberts handed a paper coffee cup to someone outside of the Bridgeport City Hall on the morning of February 27 and asked the person to deliver the coffee cup to Bridgeport Police Department’s Office of Internal Affairs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The witness delivered the cup. The police officer assigned to OIA looked in the cup, saw a modified hand grenade and notified the Emergency Operations Center, police said.
Authorities responded to the scene, the building was evacuated and the grenade was safely removed, according to police.
Investigators determined that the grenade would not have detonated because it was poorly constructed, but that explosive black powder had been added to the grenade.
In March, police released a description of the vehicle the man was believed to be in.
Roberts has a prior arrest record, according to court records, and was charged with possession of an explosive by a previously convicted felon and with making a threat or conveying false information concerning an attempt to kill, injure or intimidate a person or unlawfully damage any building by means of an explosive.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Bridgeport Police Department and the Connecticut State Police are investigating.
Photo Credit: Doug Greene, NBC Connecticut