Suspect’s Neighbor Feels Fed Scrutiny Arizona Man Says He’s Become Target Of Bombing Probe

A close associate of two of the men implicated in the Oklahoma City bombing emerged from a short appearance before a federal grand jury Thursday to say he believes he has become a target of the government investigation.

Jim Rosencrans, a 29-year-old gun enthusiast who lived next door to Michael Fortier in Kingman, Ariz., says he testified for less than five minutes before the grand jury investigating the deadly April 19 blast.

Rosencrans said he believes the brevity of his appearance indicates that the FBI now considers him a suspect - even though he says he came to Oklahoma City to try to help the government’s investigation into the deaths of 168 people when the Alfred P. Murrah federal building was bombed.

“I think I’m a suspect now,” Rosencrans said in the interview Thursday evening at the Oklahoma City airport as he waited for a flight to return home to Kingman. He wore a red “No Fear” T-shirt and a black Harley-Davidson cap and seemed nervous, rubbing his palms and staring at the floor.

But, he added, “I feel like they’re trying to rile up anybody they can. It’s like a witch hunt. It’s a scary thought.”

Federal sources familiar with similar situations said Rosencrans could have been advised before the grand jury that he is now a “target” of the investigation. Or, the sources said, the prosecutors could have learned new information from his interview on Wednesday and decided to limit his grand jury appearance to an introduction, intending to recall at a later time.

Rosencrans said a team of two FBI agents and two federal prosecutors interrogated him for four hours on Wednesday at the U.S Attorney’s office here about his relationship with Fortier, who has not been charged in the case, and accused bomber Timothy J. McVeigh.

He said they asked him about a rifle Fortier had given him that had been stolen in an Arkansas robbery. They also asked about an incident last fall in which McVeigh wanted to pay him to accompany him on a secret trip that neither McVeigh nor Fortier would explain, he said.

Rosencrans, a lifelong resident of Kingman, lived next door to Fortier in a Kingman trailer park. He also came to know McVeigh, who last fall was living with Fortier and working with him at a Kingman hardware store.