Feds charge man in Old Navy explosion, fire

The U.S. Attorneys office has charged 28-year-old David Hickman in the explosions and fire set at a northeast Albuquerque Old Navy last week.

The Old Navy fire was one of six similar incidents at local chain stores around Central Albuquerque early Friday and Saturday morning. Hickman has not been charged in connection with any other incident.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the United States District Court, early Saturday morning a police officer on patrol near San Mateo and Interstate 40 heard “several timed booms, like little explosions but not gunshots.”

The officer told federal agents he drove to the shopping center to check it out and saw a silver car that had not been in the parking lot before. He said he saw a figure in black running in and then out of the broken window of one of the stores.

Flames enveloped the front of the Old Navy as the suspect fled.

The officer called for backup and police arrested Hickman nearby at Carlisle and Menaul, NE, according to the complaint. When they arrested him he had a gun in his holster, an assault rifle in the back seat and several mason jars filled with an explosive, according to the complaint. Authorities also found a list, with Old Navy on it, in the car. They didn’t say what else was on the list.

Hickman has been charged with using an explosive device to damage or destroy a building used in interstate commerce. He had his initial appearance in federal court Monday morning.

Also last week, a massive fire broke out at a Nob Hill luxury condo complex under construction in Nob Hill and several small fires were set by a suspected arsonist at an anti-abortion ministry. Three Starbucks were broken into and left with “suspicious devices,” one of which caused minimal damage early Friday morning. Around the same time of the explosion at Old Navy, a Barnes & Noble in Coronado Mall caught fire and a paper shredding business had the bomb squad called in.

No one was hurt in any of these incidents and the FBI is investigating all of them.

Although federal authorities have not said whether Hickman is responsible for other incidents, police chief Gorden Eden said in a press conference Saturday that they are not looking for any other suspects.

This is a developing story. Additional information will be added as it becomes available.