May 15, 1985: Second ‘Unabomber’ Package Detonates at California University, Injuring Graduate Student

A University of California, Berkeley graduate student, John E. Hauser, picks up a package in the university’s computer science lab. The package is a bomb made up of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder. It explodes, costing Hauser four fingers from his right hand and severing arteries. [BBC, 11/12/1987; Washington Post, 4/14/1996; Washington Post, 1998] The bomb has apparently been in the lab for two or three days, left on top of a stack of three-ring binders. Hauser thought it was a file box for another student’s computer cards, and picked it up intending to identify its owner. Upon opening it, he hears an odd buzzing sound, then the bomb detonates. Ironically, the victim of a previous bombing, Professor Diogenes Angelakos (see July 2, 1982), hears the explosion, rushes to offer assistance, and ties a tourniquet around Hauser’s arm. Hauser will lose much of the use of his right arm, and will be forced to abandon his dreams of becoming an Air Force fighter pilot and perhaps an astronaut. He will later say, “There is not a day that goes by when I’m not reminded that I don’t have full use of my right hand… from trying to play racquetball to trying to pick up my daughter.” Of the bombing, Hauser will say, “This was as much a target of opportunity as anything else.” The bombing will later be shown to be the work of Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the so-called “Unabomber” (see April 3, 1996). Kaczynski once worked as a professor at UC-Berkeley. Both this bombing and the previous one are in Cory Hall, a building close to where Kaczynski once taught. Captain Bill Foley of the Berkeley campus police will later say: “He taught in Campbell Hall and had offices in one of our temporary buildings. If you did a triangle between Campbell and that temporary building you would hit Cory Hall at peak of the triangle.” Cory Hall also houses the engineering and computer science departments, known to be favorite targets of the Unabomber. [Washington Post, 11/27/1993; Washington Post, 4/14/1996] This bomb is more powerful than earlier Unabomber constructions, using a mix of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder to cause the explosion. The bomb’s shrapnel consists of tacks, nails, and bits of lead. Stamped on the end seal of the bomb’s pipe are the initials “FC,” which will later be found to stand for “Freedom Club.” [World of Forensic Science, 1/1/2005]