Supremacy Group Suspect in Bombing

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is examining possible links between the recent bombing of the U.S. Courthouse in downtown San Diego and an apparent white supremacist group that has sent threatening letters to a Latino activist and a local television station.

Ron Orrantia, FBI spokesman in San Diego, said the bureau is investigating an apparent connection between the bombing and the group, which calls itself the Holy Church of the White Fighting Machine of the Cross.

“It’s another lead that we’re investigating,” said Orrantia, who explained that the FBI is involved because the bombing targeted a federal facility. “We definitely have not reduced the scope of the investigation.”

No one was injured in the bombing, which occurred early Saturday morning when few people were inside the five-story courthouse. The explosive device, placed near the front entrance, caused minor damage, including a broken window. No suspects have been apprehended, authorities said.

After the explosion, San Diego police reported that four “military-looking type” white men were seen running from the area.

No one has publicly claimed responsibility for the bombing.

But Tuesday, an apparently related letter signed by the White Fighting Machine group arrived by mail at the offices of KNSD (Channel 39), a San Diego television station. In the correspondence, the group implied its role in the bombing, although it never acknowledged responsibility.

“This will serve to explain the reasons for detonation of the device placed at the Courthouse the other day,” begins the typewritten letter, which was sent on behalf of the group’s “division” in San Diego, and was also signed by an individual, presumably using a pseudonym. “There were no injuries in this recent event, but The Holy Church of the White Fighting Machine of the Cross cannot guarantee that there will not be injuries in the future.”

The letter, which television station officials turned over to the FBI, vows “further action” if a series of demands are not met within 30 days. Among them: new trials for everyone jailed for so-called hate crimes; an end to federal wiretapping and monitoring of “white power”; a rescinding of “anti-white” hate-crime legislation, and the dropping of a lawsuit “against white power” in Portland.

The latter was an apparent reference to a pending $10-million civil suit stemming from the brutal hate-crime murder of a black Portland resident in 1988. Two national rights groups have alleged in state court there that the murder’s inspiration emanated from supremacist groups and their leaders, including Tom Metzger, a Fallbrook resident who is a former Klu Klux Klan official and the founder of a nationwide group known as the White Aryan Resistance, or WAR. Metzger has denied the allegations. The trial is scheduled to begin in Portland next month amid heavy security.

On Wednesday, Metzger, a 52-year-old TV repairman, said his group had nothing to do with the recent letters. He said he had never heard of the White Fighting Machine.

The group’s letter to the television station also calls for a closing of “the Border,” presumably referring to the U.S.-Mexico border. “The National Guard will be assembled to prevent the illegal immigration,” the letter says, apparently outlining one of the group’s policy goals. Supremacists have long called for an end of nonwhite immigration into the United States.

Last week, Roberto Martinez, a leading Latino activist who has long been involved in border rights issues, received a threatening letter signed by the White Fighting Machine group. The letter, which was spiked with coarse epithets against Latinos and Jews, warned Martinez to cease his advocacy work on behalf of migrants or face unspecified consequences.

“This illegal crossing has been going on too long, and white power is not going to let you have any political clout over it,” the letter says.

San Diego police are investigating the origins of the hate-letter to Martinez, who is the border representative in San Diego for the American Friends Service Committee, a Philadelphia-based Quaker social-action group. Martinez said the letter is the latest in a series of threatening letters and telephone calls he has received. He said he plans to seek police protection for future public appearances.