FBI kills Florida Mosque bomber

FAIRVIEW — Law enforcement officers on Wednesday shot and killed an armed man who was wanted in connection with a pipe bomb explosion at an Islamic center in Florida.

FBI agents and Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers were attempting to arrest Sandlin Matthews Smith, 46, at a state park in the Fairview area about 1:30 p.m. when he confronted officers with a firearm and was shot, FBI special agent Clayton Simmonds said.

Agents had an arrest warrant for Smith in connection with the May 11, 2010, bombing of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville, Fla.

A small blast, believed to have been from a pipe bomb, went off during an evening prayer service. The blast caused minimal damage and there were no injuries.

Agents do not know what connection Smith, of suburban Jacksonville, had to Oklahoma, if any.

He was camping at Gloss Mountain State Park by himself in a tent when he was found, Jacksonville FBI field office spokesman Jeff Westcott said.

Westcott said agents pursued leads and got a federal arrest warrant for Smith on Monday night, but realized he had left the Jacksonville area.

Westcott said information uncovered during the investigation led agents to believe Smith might be in Oklahoma, but he did not say what that evidence was.

The warrant included charges for damage to religious property, obstruction of person in the free exercise of religious belief, unlawful possession and transfer of a destructive device, possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a statement on Facebook and through email late Wednesday thanking the FBI for its yearlong investigation into the bombing of the Florida mosque.

“While we regret that this individual will not face justice in a court of law, we thank the FBI for its year-long effort to bring the alleged perpetrator to justice,” Muneer Awad, the executive director of CAIR’s Oklahoma chapter wrote in a news release.

“We must now determine whether the suspected bomber acted alone or was part of a larger group,” he wrote. “The startling developments in his case may bring some peace of mind to the Florida Muslim community targeted in last year’s terror attack,” Ramzy Kilic, communications director for the Tampa, Fla., chapter of CAIR wrote