Massachusetts

Massachusetts Man Charged With Trying to Blow Up Jewish Nursing Home

Blood found on the failed explosive matched the DNA of suspect John Michael Rathbun, 36, the FBI said

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NBC News

Federal agents arrested a western Massachusetts man and accused of him trying to blow up a Jewish assisted living facility, authorities alleged Wednesday.

John Michael Rathbun, 36, of East Longmeadow was charged with two counts of attempted arson after local police found a 5-gallon plastic gas container with burned paper placed in the nozzle of the canister outside of Ruth's House in Longmeadow on April 2, according to a criminal complaint.

The burned paper was a Christian religious pamphlet, and blood was on the side of the gas canister and the paper, the FBI said. The blood is alleged to have matched Rathbun's DNA, which had been stored in a federal database because of his 2011 arrests on charges of breaking and entering and receiving stolen property.

Rathbun initially denied the allegations, investigators said. But when investigators told him about the DNA evidence, his "demeanor visibly changed, and a short while later, he stated that he did not know what he was going to do and that he wanted to cry," according to the complaint.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

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