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Thieves die after fireworks filled safe explodes
WPXI.com ^ | October 11, 2013

Posted on 10/16/2013 6:03:53 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia

An ill-advised attempt to break into a safe with a welding torch wound up costing two men their lives.

According to investigators in New Hampshire, the thieves were using a welding torch to crack open the safe when they accidentally set off fireworks stored inside.

Police say the two were trying to open up the four-foot-high, concrete-lined safe with an oxyacetylene torch at a landscaping shop when the explosion occurred.

WCVB reports the resulting explosion was so powerful that it blew the huge safe through the building, landing it outside.

Investigators don't believe the men knew there were fireworks inside the safe. Lucas Bourke and Ethan Keeler, both 21, were killed in the blast.

(Excerpt) Read more at wpxi.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: fireworks; reallyoldnews; theft
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To: muir_redwoods

They’ll have a hard time proving it was the illegal ones.


21 posted on 10/16/2013 6:16:21 AM PDT by Slump Tester (What if I'm pregnant Teddy? Errr-ahh -Calm down Mary Jo, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it)
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To: dfwgator
Well I mean, how inconsiderate not to warn potential burglars that there were fireworks inside.

Actually, that's a pretty good idea. Put a sticker on the outside of a safe that says, "Danger--Fireworks Stored Inside. The use of a torch to open the safe could result in serious injury or death." Subtitle--"Are you feeling lucky, punk?"

22 posted on 10/16/2013 6:18:40 AM PDT by TruthShallSetYouFree ( July 4, 1776: Declaration of Independence. Nov 6, 2012: Declaration of Dependence. R.I.P. America.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

23 posted on 10/16/2013 6:20:50 AM PDT by John 3_19-21 (Don't like Gramnesty? Support Lee Bright www.brightforsenate.com/)
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To: Doogle

24 posted on 10/16/2013 6:22:43 AM PDT by Doogle (USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Looks like they Set Them Up The Bomb real good!


25 posted on 10/16/2013 6:23:40 AM PDT by OKC Patriot ("Never Forget"!)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

26 posted on 10/16/2013 6:23:42 AM PDT by 11th_VA (I want a president who won't enforce tax laws ...)
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To: Slump Tester

Any forensic investigator worthy of the title will be able to identify the fireworks and the owner has already stipulated as much. Commercial grade fireworks do not have all the bright packaging retail fireworks have and the building, while damaged, was not burned to the ground. If they were retail fireworks, one would expect to find lots of shredded packaging.


27 posted on 10/16/2013 6:28:00 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Don't fire until you see the blue of their helmets)
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To: cuban leaf
If the case can be made that the fireworks were actually a form of booby trap, he’ll go to prison.

That would be a thought crime and impossible to prove. I may start
storing 10-lbs of powder and some primers in my safe. To keep it
safe and dry of course.

28 posted on 10/16/2013 6:31:31 AM PDT by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

I like to think that just for a couple of seconds, he stood there motionless while micro-fractures spread rapidly across his entire blackened body, and then he blinked twice before collapsing into a pile of rubble.


29 posted on 10/16/2013 6:41:05 AM PDT by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: MaxMax

That would be a thought crime and impossible to prove.
Yeah. Especially since it is easy to make the case that he was storing them in the safest place he knew.

I was just thinking of the guy who’s shop got burglarized so many times he set up a booby trap with a shotgun at a “burglary entery point”. Sure enough, he killed himself a burglar.

Personally, I see it as catching a mouse in a mouse trap. Apparently the state sees it differently.


30 posted on 10/16/2013 6:44:49 AM PDT by cuban leaf
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To: muir_redwoods

Doubt it was fireworks? More likely it was dynamite since this was a landscaping company. And yes, the safe would be a logical place to store dynamite.


31 posted on 10/16/2013 6:46:54 AM PDT by rawhide
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To: muir_redwoods

Yeap, sounds like the thing to do is fill all the void spaces in your safe with kegs of smokeless powder.


32 posted on 10/16/2013 6:48:18 AM PDT by VRWCarea51
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To: dfwgator

You owe me a keyboard.....


33 posted on 10/16/2013 6:54:45 AM PDT by bigdaddy45
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To: driftless2

Don’t worry— at their funerals, they’ll be canonized as really good boys that were just starting to turn their lives around. They loved their mothers and kittens and their kids they’ve had by various girlfriends, and even helped their friends move a refrigerator once. Real Saints, they were...


34 posted on 10/16/2013 6:58:42 AM PDT by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Well, at least they went out with a bang.


35 posted on 10/16/2013 7:35:50 AM PDT by House Atreides ( D)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Live by the torch...die by the torch.


36 posted on 10/16/2013 7:41:41 AM PDT by W.Lee (After the first one, the rest are free.)
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To: rightwingintelligentsia

Sure-fire Darwin Award nominees....


37 posted on 10/16/2013 7:42:36 AM PDT by Reo (the 4th Estate is a 5th Column)
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To: rawhide

The owner has already stipulated that it was fireworks and I believe dynamite can be burned w/o exploding.


38 posted on 10/16/2013 7:47:17 AM PDT by muir_redwoods (Don't fire until you see the blue of their helmets)
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To: muir_redwoods

Indeed, dynamite doesn’t explode when burned. It just burns. :-)


39 posted on 10/16/2013 7:48:12 AM PDT by Ted Grant
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To: cuban leaf
Personally, I see it as catching a mouse in a mouse trap. Apparently the state sees it differently.

As well they should. What if the mouse is a firefighter breaking through the door to put out a fire?

40 posted on 10/16/2013 8:50:42 AM PDT by rmh47 (Go Kats! - Got eight? NRA Life Member])
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