A suspect has been arrested in the package bombing that killed a New York landlord last summer as part of an alleged revenge plot against cops and judges.
Aspiring hip hop producer Victor C. Kingsley, 37, was arrested on Wednesday on federal charges of using a weapon of mass destruction that resulted in the death and unlawful transportation of explosives.
The arrest caps an intense FBI investigation into the July 28 bombing that killed 73-year-old Queens landlord George Wray, whom prosecutors say was an unintended victim.
In chilling detail, the new indictment lays out a sick revenge plot that prosecutors say Kingsley hatched against New York City cops and judges over a prior arrest.
Aspiring hip hop producer Victor C. Kingsley, 37, (above) was arrested on Wednesday on federal charges of using a weapon of mass destruction that resulted in the death
Medics are seen on July 28 rushing landlord George Wray to the hospital, where he later died. Prosecutors say Wray was an unintended victim in Kingsley’s revenge scheme against cops
Police removed these bags full of evidence from the home of Kingsley’s mother, where he also lived, after he was arrested on Wednesday. Bomb squads also found several pipe bombs
‘Kingsley used an improvised explosive device in an attempt to target an NYPD officer, and he killed an innocent civilian in the process,’ said US Attorney Richard P. Donoghue in a statment.
‘This Office and our law enforcement partners will use every tool at our disposal to bring to justice those who endanger the community through acts of senseless violence.’
It all dates back to January, 5, 2014, when Kingsley was arrested for illegally possessing a Taser in Brooklyn’s East Flatbush neighborhood near his mother’s house, where he resides.
Kingsley, who goes by the online moniker ‘The God Named King’, hatched a revenge plot against arresting officer Joel Crooms even though a judge had dropped the charges, prosecutors say.
Likely finding bomb-making instructions online, Kingsley ordered components from Amazon and assembled a crude but deadly bomb inside a shipping tube, prosecutors said.
In the days leading up to the bombing, investigators found menacing calls made from a phone registered to Kingsley’s mother to both Officer Crooms and another man with the same name.
Investigators are seen at the scene of the bombing on 222nd Street in Queens last summer. Kingsley mistakenly believed the NYPD cop who had arrested him lived there, prosecutors say
Remnants of the bomb hidden inside a package tube are seen left. Baffled investigators released the suspect sketch seen right before computer forensics led them to Kingsley
In the mistaken belief that Crooms lived in a house on 222nd Street in Queens, prosecutors believe that Kingsley placed the bomb there.
The shipping tube concealing the bomb in was stamped with postage and addressed to Crooms, with a phony return address from an NYPD Sergeant, now retired, who assisted with Kingsley’s 2014 arrest.
Wray, who owns several properties, was severely burned when he opened the package and it exploded, and died from his injuries on August 1.
The bombing on a quiet residential street initially baffled investigators, who thought a Bloods gang member who lived nearby might have been the target.
But once FBI investigators pieced together the address label naming Crooms, they were able to tie Kingsley to the bombing through computer forensics, tracing who had searched for the officer’s address on whitepages.com.
Wednesday’s arrest may have saved additional lives, as prosecutors say that Kingsley had continued to purchase more bomb components after the July bombing.
A crime scene investigator sweeps Kingsley’s mother’s home for evidence on Wednesday
The bomb squad removed two pipe bombs and five other partially completed bombs from the home where Kingsley lived with his mother
When federal agents and NYPD cops swooped in on Kingsley at his mother’s home this week, they found two pipe bombs and five others that were partially constructed, according to the New York Post.
Based on his web searches, investigators believe that Kingsley planned to target another cop and two judges in addition to Crooms.
Officer Crooms faces his own legal problems. He was charged with reckless endangerment in November, after allegedly flashing his gun and sending another man crashing through a window in a confrontation at an Outback Steakhouse.
Crooms is currently on modified duty. Neither he nor Kingsley could be reached for comment.
Kingsley faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.