Prosecutor: Rejected Oklahoma bomb suspect ‘turned to hate’
TULSA, Okla. — A 28-year-old man facing federal charges in a pipe bomb explosion outside a northeast Oklahoma Air Force recruiting centre “turned to hate” after he couldn’t complete the training required to become a certified electrician in that branch of the military, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Authorities offered a first glimpse of what they say drove Benjamin Don Roden to plant the bomb late Monday at the recruiting centre in suburban Tulsa.
Rejected and out of work, authorities said, the decorated former airman harboured a grudge against the Air Force, and also began blaming that military branch for blocking his attempt to join the U.S. Marines.
“He had every intention of becoming an electrician,” said acting U.S. Attorney Loretta Radford. “When that didn’t come to be, that’s when he turned to hate.”