Rocket launcher recovered in alleged plot to attack Dayton VA (Ohio)

Dayton Daily News ^ | Updated 3:37 PM Monday, October 25, 2010 | By Kristin McAllister and Tom Beyerlein Staff Writer

[TSgt]

MIAMI TWP., Montgomery County — Two men were being questioned after federal agents and local officers learned the men planned “to show up at the VA Center and basically shoot a bunch of people up,” police said Monday.

Federal agents found a rocket launcher and other weapons at the Miami Bluffs apartment Monday, according to Miami Twp. Deputy Police Chief John DiPietro.

DiPietro said Miami Twp. police are assisting the FBI following the threat to the Dayton VA Medical Center.

Police are now at the Miami Bluffs apartment building at 6337 Springboro Pike. One of the two men being questioned lived there; the other man’s residence had not been released.

Both men were veterans who were recipients of VA Center services, DiPietro said.

Officers removed two automatic weapons and “a large supply of ammunition,” DiPietro said.

DiPietro said the men were contacted and talked into coming unarmed to the VA and consented to the search of the apartment.

James Herbert, a Marine veteran who lives at the apartment complex, saw the rocket launcher.

“I went out this morning to throw my trash out, and I found a rocket launcher, a military rocket launcher,” Herbert said. “About the time I was going to call the police, the FBI showed up. I thought, ‘This is not good.’ ”

Herbert said he overheard officers at the scene say, “They said he threatened the VA because he wasn’t getting what he thought he should be getting.”

The rocket launcher, green with “U.S. Army” written on it, was not loaded.

“This guy was armed to the teeth,” Herbert said.

FBI Special Agent Michael Brooks confirmed that the agency is investigating a threat that was made to the Dayton VA Medical Center either late last night or early Monday morning but he would not confirm how the threat was made.

[TSgt]

Eeek!

[Gaffer]

I guess all would be equally disturbed if someone found a 105 mm spent shell casing.....my guess is those tubes are 1-use throw aways...

[Uncle Ike]

I’ve been frustrated by the bureaucracy at my VAMC (not the Docs - my ‘quality of care’ has been beyond reproach..) - but a rocket launcher is just a little bit over the top.....

[crusty old prospector]

Let me be the token lamb. Amish, right?

[tired1]

Empty LAW tube, what’s the big deal?

[dfwgator]

Rocket launcher recovered in alleged plot to attack Dayton VA (Ohio)

I suspect Bruce Cockburn.

[sayuncledave]

The strange thing to me is that I work my main job just a bit down the road from there, and all my coworkers wanted to talk about today was football and UFC stuff. I’m glad these guys were found out, but man, My dad & FIL both go there. I could understand being upset, but blowing the place up? No way.

[Vendome]

[Hardraade]

Empty LAW tube, what’s the big deal?

Planning to beat someone with it??

[Cicero]

It sounds to me as if Big Sis and the media plan to play the Crazy Veterans. Maybe they’re Christian militia, to boot.

Plenty of former military have weapons, I’m sure. Heck, when I was a kid I had a pineapple hand grenade my uncle gave me. But it was empty inside.

Why do I doubt that they really intended to shoot up the city? I’ll bet they just had a few beers and were grousing about treatment at the local VA hospital. But they had the bad luck to do so in the presence of an FBI informant.

Just my guess. Not enough information yet to be certain of anything. But they’ll play this as an October surprise if they possibly can.

[lonevoice]

Surely there must be more to this story. A couple of veterans team up and plan to kill a bunch of their fellow veterans at the VA because they’re unhappy about their benefits? It just doesn’t quite make sense.

[ebshumidors]

I found one in somebody’s trash when I was 10. I was THE MAN when we played army!

[TSgt]

Plenty of former military have weapons

I used to but they were all sadly lost in a horrific skiing accident.

[Del Rapier]

“A rocket launcher,a military rocket launcher.”

There is other kinds out there?

I too have been frustrated with the pace my claims for disability,although I haven’t actually put any claims in,have been taking.

[TSgt]

We take care of welfare recipients better than we do veterans.

[Waverunner]

Yes there are ...

[Rebelbase]

“a large supply of ammunition,”

A brick of .22?

[Bean Counter]

A deadly throwaway LAWS launch tube, oh my!

Armed to the teeth, eh?

[EricT.]

I used to but they were all sadly lost in a horrific skiing accident.

What a coincidence-- mine were all lost in a freak kayaking accident.

[maine yankee]

Mine irretrievably lost during an horrific snowshoeing encounter with a moose who was being harassed by a feral porcupine here in the Maine woods