Austin man who talked about blowing up Rochester, St. Paul buildings faces firearm charges

Yahoo

a day ago

Jun. 10—AUSTIN, Minn. — An Austin man is facing criminal charges after telling two individuals that he would use a pipe bomb to "hypothetically" blow up Rochester and St. Paul buildings.
Jonathan Julio Nique, 22, is charged with eight counts of possession of firearms without serial numbers after showing two people an alleged homemade pipe bomb, his 30 firearms and a "stockpile of ammunition" in his garage.
The individuals reported what they saw to the Austin Police Department on May 25, claiming that Nique had previously talked about blowing up the Gonda Building and the city-county Government Center, both in Rochester.
Nique was placed on $50,000 conditional bail or $250,000 unconditional bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for July 17.
According to the criminal complaint, the Austin Police Department received a report on May 25 that Nique had been "experimenting with explosives, making threatening comments and acting in a concerning extremist-type behavior."
The witness told police they were recently inside Nique's garage, at his residence in Austin, when they observed a device that resembled a pipe bomb. Nique also made a comment to the witness about how easily he could "blow up a building" with his pipe bomb, the complaint said.
Two witnesses told law enforcement that Nique had approximately 30 firearms in his residence, which included manufactured firearms, homemade firearms and 3D-printed firearms. According to the complaint, he also had a "stockpile of ammunition." Nique told the witnesses that no one is allowed in his garage and that he monitors people if they are in his garage.
The witnesses told police Nique is known to use cocaine and sometimes says "unhinged things," the complaint said. One incident they referenced was when they were all talking about an attack at an IVF clinic. In response, Nique said it is easy to build a pipe bomb.
According to the complaint, Nique was then asked what building he would blow up, to which he responded with a list of buildings, including the Gonda Building, the city-county Government Center, the Minnesota State Capitol Building and a synagogue. The witnesses said Nique had "white nationalist viewpoints" and had previously made racist comments.
Nique told the witnesses he is "anti-law enforcement" and talks about the Ruby Ridge standoff, an 11-day standoff in 1992 between federal agents and a man who failed to appear in court on firearm charges.
Two weeks prior, the witnesses said, Nique had gone to the hospital for a hand injury after shaking a medicine bottle with a metal cylinder and match shavings inside. One witness believed Nique was making "Armstrong's Mixture," a type of explosive, according to the complaint.
After executing a search warrant on May 28, law enforcement found eight firearms without serial numbers, the complaint said. Several of the guns appeared to have been manufactured using a 3D printer. The guns were all capable of firing, the complaint said. Police found the suspected pipe bomb, but it did not have explosives inside it. The bomb squad, which assisted with the search, located containers with smaller metal objects and suspected matchstick powder inside.
Nique was arrested the same day for possession of two .22-caliber rounds inside a courthouse. According to the criminal complaint, he dropped the rounds on his way through Mower County Courthouse security.
He agreed to speak with law enforcement and denied making a pipe bomb or practicing with explosives. He said he was "joking" when he made comments about blowing up government and religious buildings.