Steve Quayle News Alerts

May 7, 2002

By Sarah Huntley, Charley Able and Hector Gutierrez, News Staff Writers

SALIDA -- A pipe bomb similar to those found in three other states was discovered in a mailbox in Salida on Monday, adding to fears that a domestic terrorist is moving west.

A second possible explosive device found in Pueblo Monday evening was also being investigated but did not appear to be of the same type.

Because of the Salida bomb, Colorado mail carriers will not deliver mail today to curbside boxes that are not left open.

A postal customer who lives 12 blocks from downtown Salida called police about 12:30 p.m. to report a suspicious device in his mailbox.

The device, later found to be a bomb, had been made with a metal pipe that was 6 inches long and 3/4 of an inch in diameter. The pipe was attached to two wires and wrapped in a plastic Ziploc sandwich bag with a piece of folded paper attached, Salida police and sheriff's officials said.

"The way I recognized it was that I was a former police officer and I knew what I was looking at," said the locksmith who found the bomb and who asked not to be identified. His mailbox is across the street from his house. He and his wife declined to discuss the matter further.

The bomb did not cause any injuries.

The Colorado Springs bomb squad removed the device without detonating it and were examining it late Monday, including using X-ray technology.

"They are going to try to disrupt it while preserving as much of the evidence as they can," said Rich Marianos, resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Federal agents were also examining digital photographs taken of the device and processing the attached paper for fingerprints, Marianos said.

Hours later Pueblo sheriff's deputies were called to the scene of another device that may be a bomb, officials said.

"It appears to be an explosive device," said FBI spokeswoman Ann Atanacio. "The preliminary reports of the device indicate that it is not consistent with what we found earlier today in Salida."

She said the device was not in a mailbox but declined to comment further on its location.

She added that although investigators have not determined if the Salida or Pueblo devices were placed by the same person who placed bombs in three other states, it is "a possibility we are considering very strongly."

The new mail-delivery rules were requested by the FBI after the Salida bomb was identified and will be in place "until further notice -- likely until we catch the person responsible," said Al DeSarro, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service in Denver.

Cluster boxes, locked boxes and boxes attached to houses won't be affected, he said.

"We are also asking customers not to put outgoing mail in the mailbox," DeSarro said. Customers should use drop boxes or go to the post office until further notice.

At a news conference in Salida late Monday, Police Chief Darwin Hibbs, FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Mershon and Chaffee County Sheriff Ron Bergmann stressed that all precautions were being taken to keep residents safe.

Mail delivery was halted Monday but will resume today, Hibbs said.

Bergmann said his office immediately checked all mailboxes within four miles of Salida and no other bombs were found. He alerted law enforcment agencies in a 60-mile radius to be on the alert for suspicious activities.

"It's one of those things you hope won't happen in your own community, and unfortunately it did," Bergmann said.

A mother of four young children who lives two blocks from where the bomb was found agreed.

"It's pretty scary. I'm nervous about my kids," the 34-year-old said. "I thought it would be a safe place to live."

The discovery followed others that began Friday in Illinois and Iowa and moved into Nebraska during the weekend. The Salida bomb brings the total number to 17.

"There is a disturbing pattern that seems to be moving west rather quickly," Mershon said. "The device (in Salida) is consistent in the description and appearance with the 16 other devices. The only difference is it wasn't rigged to explode when opened."

"They are very strong pipe bombs. They are nothing to be messed around with," said DeSarro, who urged customers to "please use good judgment and caution."

The confirmed pipe bombs were about 6 inches long and 3/4 of an inch in diameter, with a 9-volt battery attached.

Some were accompanied by a letter that warned of more "attention getters" and urged people to stop fearing death.

Authorities had not released the contents of the paper found attached to the device in Salida.

"We have issued some specific safety precautions to all of our postal employees, especially our letter carriers, asking them to be extra vigilant," DeSarro said.

Customers should notify police if they notice anything suspicious, DeSarro said.

"And if they see anything odd-shaped at their mailboxes, they should be very careful about looking at it," he said.

Postal inspectors and agents from the FBI, the ATF, and other federal and state agencies are investigating.

"The FBI and postal inspectors have a lot of strong leads, and hopefully we can nail who is doing this right away," DeSarro said.

Officials have urged the person responsible for what officials are calling an act of "domestic terrorism" to contact law enforcement to discuss his grievances without additional violence. So far, profilers have said they believe that the suspect is likely to be an American male.

There could be some significance to the pattern of delivery. The bombs in Iowa were found in locations that form a large, uneven ring about 70 miles in diameter. The Nebraska bomb sites form a large ring about 90 miles across.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he has been a delivery person, because he is running a route and he is running a route in a circle," forensic psychologist Michael Welner said. "He's doing it at night. He is doing it in a way which would be routine for him."

Salida authorities had not released the name of the resident who found Monday's bomb nor the location of the discovery. Salida is about 144 miles southwest of Denver and more than 400 miles from the site of the nearest Nebraska pipe bomb.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_1131848,00.html