iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — The FBI and NYPD arrested a man in Brooklyn Wednesday in connection with a deadly package explosion in Queens last summer.
Victor Kingsley is charged with using a weapon of mass destruction in an attempt to kill a police officer who arrested him in 2014.
Instead the blast severely burned Gary Wray, the 73-year-old landlord of a Queens building who opened the canister-shaped package that had been left on the doorstep several days earlier. Wray died after several days in the hospital.
Kingsley allegedly built the explosive device as part of a broader effort to retaliate violently against several police officers who were part of an NYPD unit that had arrested him in January 2014.
Despite the eventual dismissal of that case, Kingsley methodically sought revenge against the officers, federal prosecutors said. He conducted internet searches and made telephone calls attempting to determine the locations of the officers’ residences, officials said. He also accumulated explosive device components via online purchases, which he had delivered to his house in Brooklyn, according to the criminal complaint.
Ultimately, Kingsley allegedly arranged for the explosive device to be placed outside of a residence in Springfield Gardens where mistakenly believed one of his target officers resided, prosecutors said. The building owner inadvertently detonated the device when he tried to open it, and died as a result of his injuries.
If convicted, Kingsley could face a maximum sentence of life in prison. He was taken to the hospital for a psych exam and is due in court Thursday.
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