Authorities: Explosion near NAACP office targeted accountant

A man arrested in the January 6 explosion near the Colorado Springs NAACP office told investigators he was targeting an accountant who worked in the same building.

Court records filed Friday allege 44-year-old Thaddeus Murphy admitted to making a pipe bomb because he was distraught over financial problems. The records show Murphy was upset because the accountant wouldn’t return his tax records or phone calls.

Murphy was charged with arson of a building and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The accountant ran his business out of the same building as offices of the Colorado Springs chapter of the NAACP.

The building is located in the 600 block of S. El Paso St.

No one was hurt in the explosion adjacent to a wall of Mr. G’s Hair Design Studios, a barber shop.

The blast caused only minor damage but rattled nerves due to its proximity to the nation’s oldest civil rights organization.

Court records also confirm that two search warrants that were executed in Colorado Springs Thursday were related to Murphy.

The first warrant service happened at American Storage in the 6700 block of Vincent Drive, where Murphy rented a storage unit. The second happened at a home in the 6700 block of Palace Drive, where Murphy was apparently living.