Investigators are still looking for the person or persons who firebombed the Orange County GOP headquarters in Hillsborough earlier this month – but the investigation has led to one arrest.

Town officials say they’ve received “hundreds of tips” from community members and they’re looking into all of them. Hillsborough Police Chief Duane Hampton says his staff is also reviewing video footage from more than 20 sites nearby – more than 180 hours’ worth of video footage in all.

Police have not identified any suspects in the bombing yet – but investigators did uncover one other crime while reviewing all that video footage. A camera near an ATM captured an image of a person wearing a clown mask; no connection to the bombing, as it turned out, but police were able to tie the image to the theft and fraud of an ATM card. The person in the mask has been identified and charges are pending.

But the search for the firebomber continues. Chief Hampton says it’s “simply going to take time” to review all the available data and investigate all the leads, so there may not be an arrest right away.

The firebombing took place on the morning of Sunday, October 16, sometime between midnight and 9 am. Someone spray-painted graffiti on the side of a building and threw a Molotov cocktail-type device through the window of the Orange County GOP headquarters in the Daniel Boone shopping center; no one was injured, but the office suffered major fire and smoke damage. (The party has resumed operations at a new location.)

If you have any information about the attack, Hillsborough police want to hear from you. The state of North Carolina is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprits.

If you have information, there are many ways to contact authorities:

Email Hillsborough Investigator Jon Purvis at this link or call him at 919-732-9381, ext. 37.

Report information anonymously through the town’s website.

Call the Hillsborough Police Department’s tip line at 919-732-3975. The phone line is routed directly to voicemail and does not record callers’ phone numbers.

Contact the FBI at 704-672-6100. Select Option 2 to report suspicious activity or a possible federal crime.

Contact the State Bureau of Investigation at 919-662-4500.

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