Metropolis Reality Forums - Bombs in Mailboxes

Sponsored by: The Fans!

Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register.
Nov 23^rd, 2024, 11:46am

Upcoming Premiere Dates:
Survivor 23, Season premiere
Thursday, September 14 (8:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT) on CBS

Metropolis Reality Forums Ť Bombs in Mailboxes ť

   Metropolis Reality Forums
   Community
   The Grapevine (Moderators: Heather, Bumper, Isle_be_back)
   Bombs in Mailboxes

Previous topic | New Topic | Next topic »

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic

Author

Topic: Bombs in Mailboxes (Read 818 times)

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Bombs in Mailboxes
« on: May 3^rd, 2002, 8:51pm »

Quote

Modify

Pipe bombs in mailboxes in Ill., Iowa

At least six people injured in explosions in rural areas

NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES

URBANDALE, Iowa, May 3 Pipe bombs accompanied by anti-government propaganda exploded Friday in six rural mailboxes in Illinois and Iowa, injuring at least six people and forcing the Postal Service to suspend deliveries through Saturday in the agricultural region that straddles the Mississippi River.

AUTHORITIES DID NOT immediately name any suspects, but they said they were treating the case as domestic terrorism. They said the bomber had issued no warnings in advance.
   The eight bombs, six of which exploded, were accompanied by a long note that did not advocate a specific cause but instead expressed generic anti-government sentiments and complained about the effects of conformity on modern society.
   Conforming to the boundaries, and restrictions imposed by the government only reduces the substance in your lives, said the note, which was signed Someone Who Cares. It promised that more attention getters are on the way.

MORE BOMBS FEARED
   None of the injuries, to four postal workers and two customers, was considered life threatening.
   In Asbury, Iowa, north of Dubuque, a bomb went off when a letter carrier opened a mailbox from the passenger side of a vehicle, leaving a small hole in the door, witnesses said. The carrier had surgery to remove shrapnel from his arm and suffered damage to his hearing.
   Also injured were three postal workers in Mount Carroll, Morrison and Elizabeth, Ill., and two postal customers in Anamosa and Tipton. Both residents were hospitalized.
   Other devices were found in Farley and a farm outside Davenport in Iowa, and authorities said there was a danger that even more bombs could be in mailboxes in the region.
   We dont know if all the devices have been found or there are devices remaining, said James Bogner, an FBI spokesman. ... We probably wont know for a while.
   In Carroll County, Ill., Sheriff Rod Herrick warned residents against opening their mailboxes.

   I dont want kids getting off the bus and opening the mailbox, or people coming home from work and opening their mailbox, he said. Dont touch your mailbox until further notice.
   Joleen Baxa, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service, said mail delivery would be suspended through Saturday in all areas east of Cedar Rapids and in northern Illinois.

NOTES ATTACHED TO BOMBS
   Postal Inspector Linda Jensen said at a news conference in Iowa City that the bombs were three-quarter-inch steel pipes with 9-volt batteries attached. They appeared to have been placed directly in the mailboxes and not unwittingly delivered by mail carriers.
   Accompanying each was a clear plastic bag containing the typewritten letter with anti-government propaganda.
   The bombs appeared to have been triggered by being touched or moved, said Azeezaly Jaffer, vice president of the U.S. Postal Service. He said the first one blew up about 11 a.m. (noon ET) when a rural letter carrier delivering mail near Mt. Carroll, Ill., opened a mailbox.

   MSNBC.coms Alex Johnson, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

« Last Edit: May 3^rd, 2002, 8:58pm by Rhune »

IP Logged

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Re: Bombs in Mailboxes
« Reply #1 on: May 6^th, 2002, 1:51pm »

Quote

Modify

Teen Held After 3 New Pipe Bombs Discovered

An 18-year-old was busted last night in connection with three more pipe bombs planted in mailboxes in the rural Midwest yesterday.

The teen, whose name wasn't released, was arrested in St. Paul, Nebraska, after at least one of the new devices was determined to be a hoax, officials with the U.S. Postal Service said.

But the three latest bombs, found in home mailboxes in Nebraska, brought to 16 the number of explosive devices found since Friday, in the largest case of domestic terrorism since last year's anthrax scare.

On Saturday, five such devices were discovered throughout the southeastern section of the state.

Eight other bombs were discovered Friday in nearby Iowa and Illinois.

IP Logged

MzzJoplin
ForumsNet Member

Thaid no more ...

Gender:

Posts: 584

Re: Bombs in Mailboxes
« Reply #2 on: May 7^th, 2002, 6:59am »

Quote

Modify

FBI seeks man in pipe bomb case
Bulletin issued after 18th device discovered in Texas

NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES
May 7 The FBI on Tuesday issued an all-points bulletin for a 22-year-old man in connection with an investigation into mailbox pipe bombs that have been found in five states, police in Texas said. The alert was issued shortly after an explosive device described as similar to the 17 others was discovered near Amarillo.
THE FBI did not publicly announce the bulletin, but sources familiar with the alert told The Associated Press said that it asked law enforcement authorities to be on the lookout for Luke John Helder, who was believed to be in the Lubbock or Brownsfield areas.
The Texas Department of Public Safety put out an advisory saying Helder may be armed and dangerous and said he was driving a gray, 1992 four-door Honda Accord with Minnesota license plates.
He was described as 5-feet, 9-inches tall, 150 pounds with brown hair and green eyes.
The FBI in Omaha, where the pipe bomb investigation is centered, would not confirm that Helder is a suspect in the case. Agent Larry Holmquist would only say that investigators were aware that an all-points bulletin had been issued for him.
But officials at the University of Wisconsin at Stout told MSNBC.com that the school was alerting students and faculty that authorities are seeking a student enrolled there, said university spokesman John Enger.
The FBI has notified us that a currently enrolled student, Luke J. Helder, is a prime suspect in the mailbox pipe bombs. We do not believe he is on campus or in Menomonie or in Wisconsin at this time, read the campus-wide email being sent out, Enger said.
Sources, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, warned against reading too much into the search for Helder, saying that two other potential suspects already had been interviewed in the case. No charges were filed in either instance they said.
Word of the hunt for Helder came shortly after the FBI announced that authorities had found a pipe bomb in a rural mailbox outside Amarillo. It was the 18th bomb found since last week in an investigation that has quickly ranged from Nebraska
Holmquist, the FBI agent in Omaha, said a letter was attached to the bomb. Investigators had not yet inspected the letter, Holmquist said.

BOMB SIMILAR TO THE OTHERS
Its another pipe bomb. It looks similar to the others, he said. Upon our initial inspection, it appears it would be from the same source.
The bomb was found Monday, but no other details about its discovery were immediately known, he said.

Amarillo is a 400-mile drive from Salida, Colo., where another pipe bomb was found Monday.
The Colorado bomb was in a plastic bag in a curbside mailbox and may have been left by the same person or people who left them in mailboxes in Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska, said FBI agent Mark Mershon.
The logical concern here, given that this device is consistent with the others, is Is the tip of the iceberg?
A second pipe bomb was found later, also in Colorado, but officials said it did not appear to fit the characteristics of the other devices.
Investigators told NBC News Pete Williams that they hoped the bomber was intentionally making the devices less deadly, having received the national attention that a note accompanying the earlier devices said was the bombers goal.
Still, we have a rather disturbing pattern where the subjects are moving west rather quickly, Mershon said. Were looking for someone who is mobile. Were moving mountains to determine who that is.
A resident found the device in a sandwich bag in a mailbox in the small mountain community of Salida, 100 miles southwest of Denver. It did not explode.
The area was blocked off while police bomb units inspect the mailbox. The FBI confirmed in a statement that it was a real bomb, not a hoax.
Authorities described the bomb for NBC affiliate KUSA-TV in Denver as a metal pipe 6 inches long and three-quarters of an inch thick inside a plastic sandwich bag, with wires attached. It was accompanied by a folded piece of paper, but it was not revealed whether the paper was a note similar to the anti-government letter found with the other devices.

GEOGRAPHICAL PATTERNS
The pipe bomb scare began last Friday when six people were injured by mailbox explosives in Illinois and Iowa, creating new fears about domestic terrorism striking the heartland. The pipe bombs were accompanied by an anti-government note.
The pipe bomb discovery in Colorado now has authorities looking for geographical patterns.
The bombs in Iowa and Illinois were found in locations that form a large, uneven ring about 70 miles in diameter. The Nebraska bomb sites form a large ring of about 90 miles across.
Those two areas are separated by about 350 miles. Salida, about 100 miles southwest of Denver, is more than 400 miles west of the Nebraska bomb sites.
Mershon said the fact that the other devices were found in clusters makes authorities fear that more bombs may be delivered in Colorado. Postal carriers near Salida have been told not to deliver materials to any closed mailbox on Tuesday.
By the end of the weekend, eight bombs were found in Illinois and Iowa, and seven were discovered in rural areas of Nebraska.

RECIPIENTS WERE AWAY
The 16th mailbox bomb was found Monday in rural Nebraska in the box of someone who had been away for the weekend, authorities said. There was no immediate word on whether it was accompanied by the same anti-government note found with the other devices.
The letter left with the bombs referred to the bomber as I, not we, FBI Special Agent James Bogner said on NBCs Today show. We believe its a person who has tried to communicate with the government in the past, has issues that are unresolved and we are continuing to work on that, he said.
In Omaha, Neb., FBI Agent Larry Holmquist said the construction of the bombs also supported the theory that a single party was behind the bombings. All were made with the same materials, except for slight variations in the detonation mechanisms, he said, refusing to elaborate.
There is no question that these were planted by the same person or persons, Holmquist said.
MORE BOMBS THREATENED
The typewritten letter, the text of which was posted on the FBIs Web site, indicated that the bombing campaign would continue. FBI officials said they considered the bombings to be domestic terrorism.
If the government controls what you want to do they control what you can do, it reads in part. ... Im obtaining your attention in the only way I can. More info is on its way. More attention getters are on the way.
Text of bomber's message

MAIL DELIVERIES RESUME
Dan Mihalko of the Postal Inspection Service in Washington said there was no indication that the Postal Service or its employees were the intended targets.
This guy is talking about the government, but it [the note] never gets into specifics about the government, he said. He said the Postal Service could be just a convenient place of dropping things off.
Hundreds of nervous letter carriers went back to work Monday in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and parts of Wisconsin near the affected areas, but they took extraordinary precautions.
Letter carriers were given safety talks before being dispatched on their routes. Among the precautions: No delivery to roadside mailboxes unless the doors to the boxes are kept open.
Initial reports from Nebraska and Iowa suggested that most customers had gotten the message and were leaving the doors open.
Obviously, some carriers will be out late because of what all is going on, said Roger Humphries, a Postal Service spokesman. They have always been trained to look for anything suspicious, but obviously today that training will mean even more.
Wearing safety goggles and ear plugs, letter carrier Jim Pelzer reported to work Monday in Tipton, Iowa, near where one of the pipe bombs exploded Friday. The new protective gear was a gift from his wife.
My feeling was when we had 9-11 and the anthrax scare, I was a little concerned about my job safety, Pelzer said. But now Im intimidated and scared.
The Postal Service service also warned customers to be on the lookout for wires, strings or any other suspicious materials on, in, or around your mailbox, or suspicious activity around mailboxes. Anyone noticing anything unusual was urged to contact local law enforcement personnel immediately.

THESE ACTS REACH EVERYONE
Noting that the bomber appeared intent on drawing attention to his or her cause, FBI and local law enforcement officials pleaded over the weekend for the bomber to contact them and expand on the grievances in the letter.
Contact with the bomber could also help authorities more quickly sort out real bombs from hoaxes. Besides the real bombs, a fake bomb was found Sunday in St. Paul, Neb., where an 18-year-old man was arrested. In addition, four boys, ages 15 and 16, faced charges in Forest City, Iowa, for allegedly blowing up mailboxes with fireworks.
Sheriff David Lee, whose department received a call on one bomb found in a rural mailbox Saturday in Thayer County, Iowa, near Davenport, said the message conveyed by the bombs was that terrorism could happen anywhere.
Thayer County is just a rural, farming community, and I think thats just showing that these kind of acts are going to reach everyone not just large metropolitan areas, he said.

NBCs Pete Williams, MSNBC.coms Alan Boyle and Mike Brunker and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

IP Logged

"It's hard to be free, but when it works, it sure is worth it ... " ~ Janis Joplin

east
ForumsNet Member

sigh

Gender:

Posts: 3487

Re: Bombs in Mailboxes
« Reply #3 on: May 7^th, 2002, 2:42pm »

Quote

Modify

gross. disturbing. why do people hurt each other as a form of anti-government protest (terrorism)? it makes me sick.

makes me think about my own 'wars'...sigh, why can't things be more simple?

IP Logged

read, study, reflect, write, read, study, reflect, spell check, write

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic


Previous topic \| New Topic \| Next topic »