Collar Key In Deliveryman Death (Erie pizza delivery bank robbery bomber)

CBS/AP ^ | 9-2-2003 | no byline

[weegee]

(CBS/AP) The FBI on Tuesday released photos of a metal collar found around the neck of a pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and then was killed when a bomb strapped to his body exploded.

FBI Agent Bob Rudge said the bureau hopes that by releasing the photos of the collar and locking device, someone may come forward to help law enforcement solve the strange case.

A preliminary exam performed on the collar showed that it was likely not commercially manufactured, Rudge said Tuesday.

"We do not believe it has any legitimate industrial use," said Rudge. "Its most likely purpose was specifically for attaching the device to the neck of the individual that went into the PNC Bank.

Arrested Thursday after a bank robbery, Brian Douglas Wells told authorities someone had forced him to rob the bank. He told officers a bomb was attached to him, but he died when it exploded before the bomb squad could get there.

At a news conference Tuesday, Rudge showed photographs of the triple-banded metal collar he said was around Wells' neck and a lock that kept it in place. The bomb was attached to the collar, authorities said.

Police had surrounded Wells, 46, a short time after he robbed a PNC Bank branch outside Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania. Wells had gone to deliver a pizza to a mysterious address in a remote area about an hour before he turned up at the bank with the bomb strapped to his body.

When police stopped Wells, he told them about the bomb and asked why authorities weren't helping to get it off him. Police backed off and were waiting for the bomb squad when the bomb exploded. No one else was injured.

According to police and the FBI, Wells produced an "extensive" robbery note at the bank, which has been sent to handwriting experts. Rudge did not release any additional information about the note Tuesday.

I think there is a possibility of up to 80 percent that this individual is innocent," Professor Robert Heibel, a retired FBI agent, told CBS News Correspondent Mika Brzezinski.

Heibel said Wells likely was set up, a tactic more common to drug runners or terrorists than bank robbers.

"He was being threatened that if he didn't rob the bank, once they hung that device around his neck let's say, then he becomes their patsy," Heibel said. "There are a number of ways they could have convinced him that it is a live device and from there on he is really at their mercy."

Meanwhile, officials released information from an autopsy on one of Wells' co-workers, Robert Pinetti, 43, who was found dead Sunday at his home in nearby Lawrence Park Township. Authorities do not know if his death is connected with Wells' case.

Pinetti had a history of substance abuse and preliminary testing appeared to show methadone and "valium-type" drugs in his system, authorities said. There was no trauma, officials said.

[mommadooo3]

Thanks...shabby reporting on ABC's part.

[SunnyUsa]

Like killing him with it.

hahaha....I wasn't expecting to laugh on this thread - but you are too good!

[TigersEye]

There's a joke there, but I ain't touching it.

Stay out da bushes!

[wolficatZ]

It DOES look like a mess on the car when you first see it, kind of shocked me too. I have a tool to download vids like these to my computer so they are easier to study.

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Where was the bomb squad from? Pittsburgh or Cleveland?

[Vigilantcitizen]

"I was amazed how close a couple of them were in the video. If that had been a Pali style bomb there WOULD have been some hurting officers."

One small pack of ball bearings on the same device...not good.

[TigersEye]

I would love to have that capability. Very cool!

I saw this story on TV last night, without that shot, and just sat in disgust. But when I viewed that video on the net I let out an audible groan when I saw the "bush". Gotta be careful of what you think you see in pictures and videos.

[ozzymandus]

The cowardly incompetence of those cops really embarrassed you, didn't it? There's more to being a cop than shoving drivers around and sucking donuts. Get used to it, or get a different job.

[Semper911]

My point was that I would take my chances with a muffler shop rather than wait for the bomb squad. I understand the difference of the plasma cutter.

[FITZ]

The mob is a lot more discrete than this.

The old time mob maybe --- the foreign run drug cartels aren't discrete.

[MattAMiller]

People seem to be only considering the safety of the police. If that were the only consideration then the nay-sayers would have a point. But if the cops had gone about screwing around with the bomb they would have been putting the guy at greater risk than they would by just waiting for the bomb squad to show up.

Unfortunately the bomb squad didn't get there in time. Maybe that's because of negligence on their part. But it's more likely that there just wasn't enough time to work their way through the traffic. We know the bomb exploded 45 minutes after the robbery. The deliveryman was cuffed sometime after that and only then did it become known he had a bomb. So the response time would have had to be less than 45 minutes, which isn't a terribly unusual response number.

[MattAMiller]

And I don't think it's the last. If it's Islamocrazies, it would be a great "reality TV" show for the jihad minded. Pure terror. "Will the bomb squad get the collar off of our TV anchor woman before her head explodes!"

I was thinking about this earlier. Hijacking a broadcast would be pretty dramatic. There was a guy back in the 80's who used a toy gun to force David Horowitz (The consumer advocate guy who had the show called Fight Back, not the ex-leftist) to read a statment about UFOs that were about to take over earth. They stopped broadcasting but they showed the feed on the TVs in the studio, thus fooling and placating the wacko.

But here's a way to threaten somebody and get your message on air while you cool your heels at home and make sure they actually show it.

[Travis McGee]

All the hypotheticals that you mentioned should be explored by the LEOs and FLEAs.

That's what I love about FR. I call it the world's greatest virtual think tank.

[ntnychik]

Where was the bomb squad from? Pittsburgh or Cleveland?


It had to be from Erie, nothing else is around. Cleveland is about 100 mi. to the West, Buffalo about 100 mi. to the East, Pittsburgh more than 100 mi. to the South, and about 35 miles of water to Canada to the North.

[Travis McGee]

People need to read the type and growth of crime in Colombia and Mexico because nothing is stopping it from coming here.

Amen. And now the insane Cali assembly has passed a bill to give the keys to the country, a driver's license, to anybody at all, on their say so, in any made-up name they choose.

A country this stupid can't survive.

[Travis McGee]

My point was that I would take my chances with a muffler shop rather than wait for the bomb squad. I understand the difference of the plasma cutter.

Amen brother. Gotcha. I agree 100%.

[Travis McGee]

Yep, all true. I hope we don't see it, but I fear we will, in some variety. Between the crazies and the hate-filled islamists, there are lots of folks who would do it in a heart beat.

You cannot ignore the power of the televised image, in an ongoing teledrama. Imagine OJ's Bronco chase, but with explosives, and a female celebrity hostage, and a ticking detonator and impossible demands.

Some person or group will do it, for the world audience stunt value alone.

[Southack]

You'd think that at the very least you'd try to get the police to give you some Kevlar inserts to squeeze in around to surround the collar bomb and re-direct the blast away from your neck/head/body. Soaking in water will disarm a few types of bombs, as will freezing the electronics with liquid nitrogen, neither of which will break the wires inside the collar itself (possibly triggering the device).

Heck, some explosives can even be burned off without detonating.

And any of the above efforts would seem superior than simply waiting around until the bomb went off.

[Travis McGee]

Totally agree. And the on=scene cops could have done the kevlar trick with no outside assistance.

I'm still not sure from reports if the demo charge was on his neck or chest, but either way, kevlar and trauma plates could possibly have saved him.

[merry10]

I want to know if the FBI went to the house where the pizza guy delivered...I read remote location. Did this actually happen or what?