FBI Confirms: Chabad Bomb Suspect Arrested in Ohio

The suspect in an explosion outside the Chabad House in Santa Monica was arrested tonight in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Laura Eimiller of the FBI said Monday.

Rabbi Sruly Wolf told ABC that Ron Hirsch was spotted in a synagogue on Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights.

"The rabbi who spotted him called the Cleveland Heights police, who immediately responded and called the FBI," Wolf told ABC.

Hirsch came to the synagogue Sunday night and asked a rabbi for a place to stay.

He would not provide information about himself, so after feeding him dinner he was put up in a motel.

"Things did not seem right. We decided to put him up in a local motel," a rabbi who did not want to give his name told ABC.

Ron Hirsch was believed to have boarded a Greyhound bus Thursday, the same day as the explosion, authorities said.

A man using the name J. Fisher–a known alias used by Hirsch– purchased a Greyhound bus ticket to New York that was scheduled to arrive there on Sunday, Eimiller said.

Hirsch is believed to have family in New York, Eimiller said. However, she noted that there are at least 10 destinations between Los Angeles and New York where the bus made stops.

The explosion occurred about 6:45 a.m. Thursday outside Chabad House, at 17th Street and Broadway. The blast damaged a wall and sent a 300- pound hunk of concrete, with a metal bar attached, into the air and through the roof of a house next door. No one was injured.

Brentwood's University Synagogue on Sunset and Chabad House on Bundy seemed unaffected by any threat when , the Jewish Sabbath.

Hirsch, a 60-year-old transient also known as Israel Fisher, is known to beg outside synagogues, including Congregation Bais Yehuda on North La Brea Avenue, according to police.

Authorities initially though the blast was a freak accident. However, investigators, including federal agents, later found evidence linking Hirsch to the crime, Eimiller said.

"A lengthy forensic post-blast investigation of the incident site was conducted following the initial field assessment and resulted in evidence indicating that the device appeared to have been deliberately constructed," Eimiller said.

"Based on his suspected involvement in this incident, Hirsch is considered extremely dangerous," Eimiller said. "No known motive for a deliberate attack is known at this time."

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