SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
http://heavy.com/news/2017/10/michael-christopher-estes-asheville-airport-bomber-suspect/
A 46-year-old man is facing federal charges accusing him of leaving a jar filled with explosives at a North Carolina airport as part of a war he pledged to fight on U.S. soil.
Michael Christopher Estes was arrested October 7 and charged with attempted malicious use of explosive materials and unlawful possession of explosive materials in an airport, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.
The improvised explosive device, or IED, was found inside a jar at the Asheville Regional Airport about 7 a.m. on October 6, the FBI said in the complaint. Bomb technicians from the Asheville Police Department rendered the device safe. The baggage claim and lobby area of the airport were evacuated and shut down for about 2 hours. No one was injured.
also at USA Today and The Independent
(Score: 5, Insightful) by requerdanos on Sunday October 15 2017, @06:04PM (7 children)
FTFA:
So - a "field test" designed to light up positive just about no matter what you feed it for testing said it was "totally a bomb". (Field explosive test kits are junk science [travelersunited.org].)
Then, a "bomb dog" was instructed to signal "positive" and cheerfully did so. (Forensic detection dogs are junk science [slate.com].)
Now, in general, I am against explosives being placed by morons in public places, but if this is the evidence that the device was explosive, then I am very, very underwhelmed.
(Score: 4, Informative) by frojack on Sunday October 15 2017, @06:24PM (4 children)
Well keep reading TFA, and you will be even more underwhelmed.
There is no way in hell this device would have gone off.
A little bit of fuel oil (in which a lit match will self extinguish).
Matches lashed to the striker of an alarm clock - supposedly to light and start the fuel oil on fire - but the fuel was INSIDE the sealed jar.
Anfo can be burned safely. It needs a blasting cap to set it off.
The shotgun shell soaking fuel oil would never get hot enough to go off.
This thing was designed by Wily E. Coyote!! I'm surprised it didn't have ACME scrawled on the side in crayon.
The police should have taken it out in a field and detonated it, because rendering it safe (opening the mason jar) just gave this clown an insanity defense.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by requerdanos on Sunday October 15 2017, @06:32PM
It gets even better. In point 2 of TFA,
The FBI does not seem to have disputed his claim at any point of their complaint, despite TFA's not-quite-accurate assertion that "The Mason Jar Bomb Was Filled With Shrapnel & Had an Alarm Clock Taped to It Set to Go Off* at 6:00."
* well, not really...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 15 2017, @06:43PM
Well it looks so preposterous that I would have detonated it, just in case a very smart bomb maker had devised a second explosive inside the alarm clock or something.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Sunday October 15 2017, @07:50PM
With a name like Estes, you'd think this was rocket science!
Humor aside... this is pretty bad. So bad that it is hard to really take seriously that this was going to blow. He probably didn't even try it at home first. You'd think Alaska has enough open land he could light off fireworks and no one would notice. Or grind up toy rocket engines and put them in pvc piping or something... The fact he staged this in the forest near the airport... and didn't get a ride in... this all adds up to 'poor and without anything to lose'.
It states he is 'retired military'
He staged it near the airport and walked up. He paid cash for items and used membership/discount cards. That's all pretty bold, considering it didn't work and wouldn't work, I doubt he tested this beforehand and didn't expect it to work. He made it complicated enough to look feasible; using sand and water with an alarm clock wouldn't get him taken seriously even if he got taken in and arrested...
I am thinking this guy was homeless and believed he had no future. He may have done this just to get arrested and not cause physical harm, and put something that looked legit to everyone else and would pass any immediate sniff tests. If that's the case, then perhaps he has other issues and this was a way of ensuring that he received medical care, food and shelter due to being unable to support himself... or the anticipation of being unable to support himself. There are plenty of people that get themselves arrested so they have a warm place to stay.
He won't get terrorism charges unless he makes something up to meet the definition, but he probably can be kept safely locked away for a while to come.
The charges listed in the article seem to reflect that they recognize it was not really a bomb; they state malicious use and possession of explosive materials. They already destroyed the evidence, and if he really wanted to stay in jail, he probably won't argue with them to get lesser charges of some kind if they throw the book at him about it.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Monday October 16 2017, @05:22AM
If it had been built by Wily it definitely would have successfully detonated, Right after it got dropped back into his lap by a certain (mostly) flightless bird.
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday October 15 2017, @08:10PM (1 child)
Story says they "rendered the device safe". But in previous stories about mysterious packages being found around the place, the bomb squads just take it into a field and blow it up.
Maybe the "device" was so laughable that they didn't even bother.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Monday October 16 2017, @12:41AM
That was a common-sense decision: ammonium nitrate make a good fertilizer, why waste it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford