The U.S Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Wisconsin announced Tuesday that 29-year-old Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury had been arrested in connection with the May 2022 firebombing of a pro-life facility in Madison.
According to Attorney Timothy M. O’Shea, local and federal law enforcement officers had to work “creatively to move the investigation forward” — and that meant trash-diving for half-eaten burritos.
The attack
A terrorist firebombed the headquarters of a pro-life group in Madison, Wisconsin, in the early hours of Mother’s Day, May 8, 2022.
While the initial Molotov cocktail hurled into the Wisconsin Family Action office failed to ignite, the New York Times reported that the terrorist responsible started another fire nearby, then left behind graffiti that read, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.”
This same threat has been used in multiple terror attacks by the pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge.
WKOW reported that the numbers “1312” were also spray-painted at the scene, which is a common representation of “ACAB,” meaning “All cops are bastards.”
At the scene, police found a broken glass jar with its lid burned black near a disposable lighter. Police also found a second glass jar on the scene with the lid on and a singed blue cloth tucked into the top. The second jar was full of “a clear fluid that smelled like an accelerant.”
The Jane’s Revenge blog posted what was allegedly the Madison pro-abortion bomber’s “communiqué” the day of the attack, which said, “This was only a warning. We demand the disbanding of all anti-choice establishments, fake clinics, and violent anti-choice groups within the next thirty days. … We will not sit still while we are killed and forced into servitude. We have run thin on patience and mercy.”
The post added, “Wisconsin is the first flashpoint, but we are all over the US, and we will issue no further warnings. And we will not stop, we will not back down, nor will we hesitate to strike.”
The attack came roughly one week after a draft ruling by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked to the public. A similar firebombing of a pro-life center took place on the same day in Salem, Oregon, which was followed by many more pro-abortion terror attacks throughout the country in the following weeks and months.
Wisconsin Family Action President Julaine Appling said in a statement following the attack, “Apparently, the tolerance that the left demands is truly a one-way street. Violence has become their answer to everything.”
WFA underscored, “We will not back down. … We will not stop doing what we are doing. Too much is at stake.”
WFA’s stated purpose is “to advance Judeo-Christian principles and values in Wisconsin by strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life, and liberty.”
The investigation
According to the Department of Justice, local law enforcement collected DNA from the scene of the attack belonging to three individuals.
The Associated Press reported that the DNA samples did not match any profiles in the DOJ’s genetics database.
Time wore on after this setback, and absent any meaningful leads, Wisconsin Family Action President Julaine Appling offered a $5,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest.
However, in January, police noticed something of interest in surveillance footage of a leftist protest: anti-cop graffiti resembling that seen at the site of the WFA firebombing.
The footage linked the graffiti to two individuals who left the scene of the protest in a white pickup truck, which in turn put police onto the heels of Roychowdhury.
Police observed the suspected terrorist dispose of food in a public trash can on March 1. Suspecting Roychowdhury had a hand in the bombing, officers recovered the half-eaten burrito and with it, Roychowdhury’s DNA.
A forensic biologist compared the DNA recovered from the scene to that taken from the suspect’s food and concluded they were a match.
The arrest
Roychowdhury recently traveled from Madison to Portland, Maine, where he bought a one-way plane ticket from Boston to Guatemala — a nation with which the U.S. has an extradition treaty.
The suspected terrorist’s planned March 28 getaway was thwarted by law enforcement, who arrested him at Boston Logan International Airport.
“Roychowdhury used an incendiary device in violation of federal law in connection with his efforts to terrorize and intimidate a private organization,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
The DOJ indicated that if convicted, the suspected terrorist faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
“I’m very proud of the tireless and determined efforts the combined federal, state and local team put in to identify and arrest this individual,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge William McCrary of the St. Paul Field Division.
McCrary added, “It is very satisfying to me to see that this alleged perpetrator has been placed in custody.”
Roychowdhury’s arrest comes just days after the Amherst Police Department announced the arrest of a suspected pro-abortion radical, 39-year-old Hannah Kamke, in connection with the March 16 vandalism of CompassCare, a pro-life pregnancy center nearby Buffalo.
Arson attack on Wisconsin Family Action headquarters in Madisonyoutu.be
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