Main: Former President Joe Biden speaks during a Juneteenth event at the Reedy Chapel AME Church, Thursday, June 19, 2025, in Galveston, Texas (AP Photo/David J. Phillip). Insets, clockwise from left: Brad Spafford (Western Tidewater Regional Jail), a "go box" from Spafford's car which contained a short-barrel rifle, ammunition, magazines, and medical kits, and pipe bombs found during a search of Spafford's home (U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia).
A Virginia man who stockpiled more than 150 pipe bombs and used a photograph of Joe Biden for target practice — proclaiming, "We need to bring back political assassinations," while at a shooting range — has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Brad Spafford, 36, was handed the punishment after entering a guilty plea over the summer for possessing a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
"Spafford's manufacture and stockpiling of explosive devices posed a serious danger to himself and to others," said Lindsey Halligan, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, who was disqualified from the James Comey prosecution, in a statement. "This sentence, along with Mr. Spafford's own injuries, should serve as a deterrent to anyone considering the manufacture of homemade explosives."
According to court documents, the investigation into Spafford began in January 2023 when a neighbor, who was also a law enforcement officer, reported Spafford's behavior to the FBI and became a confidential human source (CHS) for the bureau. Spafford had previously been admitted to an emergency room in July 2021 "with a completely amputated right thumb, partially amputated right middle and index fingers, hearing loss, and scalp lacerations" in connection with a misfire of a "launcher" at a family member's property in rural Virginia, where he "routinely detonated explosives he made," according to a DOJ press release sent out Thursday.
"Spafford falsely told the hospital his injuries were caused by fireworks," the DOJ release says.
The informant who came forward in early 2023 relayed a series of troubling behaviors from Spafford, who repeatedly espoused disdain for most forms of government regulations, particularly those in connection with firearms and other weapons. One of the components Spafford used in constructing explosive devices was Tannerite, a brand of binary explosive shooting targets designed to blow up when struck by a high-velocity bullet and used mostly for long-range target practice.
"In June 2023, after shooting at the range with the CHS, Spafford stated that 'we need to bring back political assassinations,' to which [a family member] responded, 'for real,'" prosecutors wrote in a statement of facts. "During that conversation, Spafford discussed making Tannerite with a substance that makes it as strong as dynamite, and stated he likes to set it off with homemade blasting caps."
Spafford admitted to creating a special solution that would "remove DNA and fingerprints" from weapons that he practiced with.
"He was using homemade targets with photographs of the President for target practice," the informant stated. At the time of the comment, Biden was the sitting president.
Roughly two weeks after the near-miss assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a July 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Spafford sent the informant a text message that read, "Bro I hope the shooter doesn't miss Kamala." The comment came shortly after then-Vice President Kamala Harris announced her intention to run for president.
On one occasion, the informant reported that he heard Spafford tell a family member that he kept hexamethylene triperoxide diamine (HMTD) stored in a deep freezer on the premises. Prosecutors described HMTD as a "peroxide-based primary explosive" that is "highly sensitive and easily detonated as a result of impact friction, or temperature changes."
Spafford also told the informant that he had an AR-15 that he had modified into a short-barreled rifle. He stated that the weapon was not registered because he "doesn't believe in any of that," expressing his desire to install a .50 caliber firearm on the roof of the house, saying, "They can't get close enough if I'm mowin' down on my fifty cal," per the statement of facts.
When authorities arrested Spafford and executed a search warrant on the home in December 2024, he initially claimed that any explosive materials were from fireworks.
In addition to the HMTD, authorities said they recovered about "155 improvised explosive devices" that "appeared to be homemade bombs" in an unlocked garage that also stored "household items and children's toys." The HMTD was located in a freezer in the garage, "stored near Hot Pockets, popsicles, and Go-GURT."
"Among the IEDs analyzed were some with propellant capabilities consistent with use in a launcher and IEDs capable of causing property damage, personal injury, or death," the DOJ release said Thursday. "Investigators also recovered bomb-making equipment, along with riot gear … two empty grenade canisters, an improvised mine, precursor chemicals for explosive materials, and numerous rounds of homemade ammunition."
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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