Posted on 03/14/2002 4:28:37 AM PST by GailA
'No hoax' - bomb found outside county morgue
By Yolanda Jones yojones@gomemphis.com
A bomb and two smaller explosive-type devices were found Wednesday morning in the stairwell outside of the Shelby County Regional Forensic Center on Madison, which houses the morgue and the Medical Examiner's Office. "This was no hoax," said Gene Marquez, resident agent in charge of the Memphis federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms office. "This was the real deal."
A cleaning man found the devices sitting in an aluminum pan on the west side of the building at 1060 Madison about 10 a.m.
He said he thought it was "a pan of food," but a closer inspection revealed the pan contained some sort of explosive devices, said the man, who was told by his supervisor not to give his name.
Dr. O. C. Smith, the county medical examiner, was called to examine the devices, confirmed they were explosives and called police.
"We have done several high-profile cases from (missing Harvard researcher) Dr. (Don) Wiley to Katherine Smith but there has been no indication that we offended anyone," Smith said. "We just don't know if we were the intended target or not.''
Smith, a driver's license examiner, was found burned to death in her car last month after she was charged in a federal inquiry with conspiracy to obtain fraudulent driver's licenses.
"We don't know if this had anything to do with these cases, and are continuing our investigation," Marquez said.
Officers surrounded the brick building, and blocked traffic on Madison and the Interstate 240 exit ramp with squad cars soon after the devices were found.
ATF agents, along with the Memphis Police Bomb Squad and the Memphis Fire Department, swarmed around the building and evacuated the seven employees inside. They also used a bomb-sniffing dog as they tried to determine if there were any other explosive devices in the building.
Marquez said an explosive device was found and described the other two objects as "destructive devices" that were not as damaging.
Police Deputy Chief Charles Cook said the devices found were not "sophisticated," but did not elaborate, including not revealing whether they had a detonator or a timer.
"It potentially could have been a large blast if exploded," Cook said. "We can't speculate on who left this and why, but we don't think it was a terrorist act. We aren't sure if the employees in the forensic center were the targets or not."
Cook said the devices were taken to the Memphis police gun range at O. K. Robertson Road in northwest Shelby County, where they were detonated.
The results will be sent to the ATF lab in Atlanta for analy sis, Marquez said.
After it was determined there were no other devices in the building, the forensic employees were allowed to go back to work.
Smith, who was preparing for court when the devices were found, said the incident was upsetting for his staff.
But Smith, who has an extensive military background, said he recognized the device as a bomb immediately.
"We have gotten threats in the past because we work a lot of cases," said Smith. "But nothing like this has been found at our building. Like I said, I am not even sure we were the targets."
- Yolanda Jones: 529-2380
Well, who else has offices there? Surely she's not suggesting that somebody accidentally left a bomb in the stairwell.
And who was the Wiley guy? Was he the dude snatched from the bridge?
BOMB AT COUNTY MORGUE! DOZENS OF BODIES FOUND!
And the media laps up the explanation that it's "Just Another Isolated Incident." © I'n not sure the lawyers should be the first to go after the revolution.... the news business has them beat as hacks and wh*res.
NO one has address HOW HIGH this selling of DL's goes. The Ill CDL scandal went all the way up to the Gov. His Sec of State took the fall.
Car fire set off suspicions as crew fought it (Smith Tennesee License Scandal)
To: weegee
Somebody had access to the car just before she drove away that night. Hidden in the back seat or trunk was an incendiary device with a fuel source of gasoline and probably a chemical starter such as acid and a dry chemical reactant. The chemical cocktail was a fused device based upon the time for the acid to eat through a container and ignite the accelerant which exploded the gasoline. It was designed to look like an accident while the car was in motion and with no way for the driver to escape. It would not appear to be a bomb and without witnesses at night the car would have burnt up with no physical evidence remaining.
This was professional and a hit on a witness to keep her quite.
By whom??????
This was not a simple case of Arkanside and someone definitely wanted this person to stop from telling more. Did she attempt to go for more money from someone she now was black mailing for help out of this mess?
Time to go over her records and life with a vacume cleaner and suck all the leads out before they grow cold. Smaller details have saved many lives and have helped arrest very bad people.
63 posted on 2/15/02 4:22 PM Pacific by Mat_Helm
Wonder if there was a device in her car's back seat sitting in an aluminum pan?
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