[Paradox]

Can this get any weirder?

[mhking]

This thing is getting stranger and stranger by the day.

Just damn.

If you want on the new list, FReepmail me. This IS a high-volume PING list...

[lelio]

Wells asked the teller when the bank would open the vault. The teller said at 3 p.m.
Wells said he would be back for the rest of the money later.

Now that's another weird part of the story. Come back to rob it later?

[Revolting cat!]

Wells told the teller the device around his neck "is going off in 22 minutes." 

Wells also said he would return to get more money. 

About 40 minutes later, the bomb around Wells' neck exploded. The blast killed him. 

That'll teach him to lie!

[fnord]

soundslike a cross between Blazing Saddles and Dog Day Afternoon

[maggief]

More from goerie.com:

http://www.goerie.com/

EXCERPT

Bank robber asked troopers to help ease weight of bomb

By Jule Gardner

In the last minutes of Brian Wells' life, he asked state troopers to uncuff him so he could at least lift up the weight of the bomb clamped tightly around him.

"It's killing my neck," he is heard saying about five minutes before the bomb exploded on upper Peach Street, killing him.

A detailed viewing of the video recorded by WJET-TV the day Wells told police he was forced to wear the bomb and rob a bank revealed much of what the pizza deliveryman had to say before his death.

The task force investigating the bizarre crime agreed, requesting copies of all of WJET-TV's tapes relating to the incident. The request arrived in the form of an order issued this week by the criminal division of the Erie County Court of Common Pleas.

Much of the discernible audio was captured by a cameraman's shotgun microphone, attached to his camera as he zoomed in on Brian Wells, 46, from across Peach Street.

WJET-TV agreed to let the Erie Times-News view its footage and transcribe what Wells can be heard saying.

Some of Wells' words can be heard clearly and have been aired numerous times since the Aug. 28 bombing, which occurred in a parking lot near the recently robbed PNC Bank branch in the Summit Town Centre. Some of what Wells said is less clear and has not yet been released, including his complaint about neck pain.

Five minutes and 23 seconds before the explosion, in a portion of the tapes in which the audio is slightly muddy, Wells can be heard saying "bomb," something about "20 minutes" and the words "until (he or we) can get the money."

He then said to the troopers, "Maybe if you can get the keys ..." and, "I'm not lying."

Wells then said quite clearly, "Can you at least take these freakin' handcuffs off? So I can hold this thing up? It's killing my neck."

He is also heard saying, "I didn't do it," or, "I didn't do anything."

In the tapes, Wells, seated on the pavement behind his Geo Metro compact car, fidgets and appears to be attempting to lift the bomb up with his legs. He bends his legs in front of him and then switches to an Indian-style position. He appears to be wearing at least two T-shirts. The outer one, which says "GUESS jeans," had been cut by officers after Wells told them he had a bomb strapped underneath it, according to a state police spokesman.

The footage with the muddy audio lasts 2 minutes and 22 seconds. In it, Wells is seen saying more to the troopers than can be heard.

At one point, according to an investigator, Wells asked for a cigarette, which he did not receive. That request was not on tape.

In dramatic footage, WJET-TV captured 25 seconds of video in which Wells' voice is clear. An edited version of that tape, which ends 2 minutes and 36 seconds before the blast, has aired on national TV and in several other countries.

In it, Wells says:


"Why is it nobody's trying to get this thing off me?"

"I don't have a lot of time."

"He pulled a key out and started a timer. I heard the thing ticking when he did it."

"It's gonna go off."

"I'm not lying." After this statement, Wells looks at the troopers and shakes his head somewhat slowly from side-to-side.


The last thing Wells is recorded as saying is, "Did you call my boss?"

A trooper can be heard saying "yes we did... ." It's the only recorded response heard from troopers, although a spokesman said there may have been more dialogue.
(snip)

[VRWC_minion]

Query: The tellers supposedly put a "dye bomb" in the bag. Would the detenation of that cause a bomb to go off ?

[VRWC_minion]

This makes it more likely it was a suicide that he wanted to look like a murder with lots of witnesses.

[Hatteras]

I thought I had read somewhere (I can't recall where) that Wells had given up a name or two to the police before the bomb detonated.

[rockfish59]

Maybe he really worked for WELLS FARGO!

[Cboldt]

Poor guy. I think he was a victim. His actions indicate that he did not possess the type of mind that normal adults have. Somebody took advantage of that, be it a "friend" or a stranger.

[Sloth]

If this pizza guy was as simple-minded as everything seems to indicate, then regardless of his involvement there is someone else out there who built this apparatus with the likely intent of killing Wells.

[cake_crumb]

Hmmmmm, curiouser and curiouser. I think I see the invisable Cheshire cat getting ready to grin at me from the stairwell....

[Justin Thyme]

Ruh-roh Raggy....

I won't get into much "hindsight is 20/20" regarding what the police may or may not have been able to do....but this part doesn't look good. And with Wells dead, they certainly can't ask him anything now....

~~~~~~~~~snip~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The troopers closest to Wells were interviewed at the scene and later by investigators. "I believe there were more things said, but what that was I'm not sure about at this time," Cpl. Mark Zaleski, spokesman for Troop E of the state police, said Thursday night.

"They had moved away from him — a distance away — and if there was more dialogue, it comes down to whether or not they heard him," said Zaleski. He stressed the troopers weren't interviewing Wells; they were trying to keep a lid on a dangerous situation.

[MattAMiller]

Wells waited in line.

I think this guy is a victim and died in a horrible way, but this cracked me up. I wonder how long the line was.