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CNN Live Today
Bank Robber/Pizza Delivery Boy Pleads For Help, Then Explodes
Aired September 01, 2003 - 10:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Erie City, Pennsylvania, are unraveling the bizarre death of a pizza delivery man. Forty-six- year-old Brian Douglas Wells told police officers he had been abducted, strapped with a bomb, and forced to rob a bank. He begged for police to free him from the bomb when it exploded.
Police are investigating it as a homicide, but they're downplaying a new twist. A friend and co-worker of Wells was found dead at his home yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN MCCABE, FBI SPECIAL AGENT I'm not going to comment on the death of this individual yesterday. The county coroner, Pennsylvania State police, Erie police are investigating that. An autopsy will be performed today.
If there's any information that's derived through their investigation that links to the -- to our investigation, because of our outstanding relationship with them, they will share that information with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We want to go ahead and get some perspective from CNN Correspondent Mike Brooks who worked in law enforcement for many years.
And maybe you can tell us a little bit about this. We want to clarify, too, the gentleman who was found dead was found in his own home.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.
COLLINS: He lived with his parents. He was not found in the home of this Wells gentleman.
BROOKS: Right. Very, very bizarre, Heidi.
But this is a 43-year-old pizza delivery man who was living at home with his parents. At about 5:00 a.m., the -- 911 got a call that he needed some assistance for medical reasons. They came there. He refused transport. His parents went back, and they found him dead at 9:00 a.m. in the morning, four hours later. So the -- was this a mystery, or was this a homicide? We don't know right now. Law-enforcement sources are saying it looks like it's natural causes, Heidi, but they should have the toxicology tests back by tomorrow.
I spoke just a short time ago with an FBI spokesperson. He said that the district attorney's office, along with the state police, will hold a press conference tomorrow, and they'll have the results of the toxicology test.
They'll also probably know whether there was any link to this particular death in this man's home and to the bank robbery. Very, very bizarre.
COLLINS: It is bizarre. Why did they think there was a link in the first place? Just because they worked for the same company?
BROOKS: Just because they worked for the same small company and same -- and also because it was so close together, and there was a number of theories.
We heard earlier -- we just saw the piece from Ken McCabe, who's the special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office of the FBI, and he was saying that there's five theories, but there -- there could be one theory. There could be five.
But some of the ones they're looking at: Did he act alone? Did someone put him up to this like he is saying, the deceased, is saying from the robbery?
But what doesn't make sense is, if someone straps a bomb to you and sends you into a bank to rob bank and they're asking for money, what happens when the bomb goes off? No one gets the money. And they already had arrested him.
Secondly, was there a vendetta against the bank? Thirdly, was this robber -- was he of of an altered mental status? You know, they're looking into all these different theories. The FBI lab is also looking into some -- is also assisting in this case.
COLLINS: Do they know anything about his mental health -- past mental health?
BROOKS: They're looking into that right now.
On the evidence side of things, they're looking at a lengthy note that he gave the tellers when he went into the bank. They are going to take handwriting samples probably from his house compared to those in the note.
They'll also go back to his house, do a search of his house, and see if there are any components that were in the house that may add up to the components of which the bomb was made of.
COLLINS: OK. We're looking at that video that we have been seeing kind of over the weekend a little bit, and there's no denying that it was just unbelievable video, about 20 minutes or so that he sat there begging for his life. What are authorities are saying about that? It just have been difficult.
BROOKS: It was very difficult for them, and the two state troopers who were closest to him -- they also apparently were slightly injured because they handcuffed him.
But if they thought he had an explosive device, they are taught to back off and wait for the trained explosive technicians to come in. These are bomb technicians that -- you know, it's not -- they have to go in and actually do a hand render safe for this.
You know, it's not easy as we see on TV with cops coming in, you know, cut the red wire, cut the green wire. It's not that easy. You have to have trained technicians come in. Even if it was not a real bomb, you still would treat it as such, but, in this case, it was a real bomb.
COLLINS: It was. And I can't imagine what sort of training they would have to be able to go into a situation so quickly like that, assess the type of bomb, and then figure out how to dismantle it.
BROOKS: Right. Well, these -- these law-enforcement officers and FBI agents are highly trained explosives technicians that specialize in this kind of thing, and that's why they backed off and waited.
Now they said he was handcuffed, and that's sort of looking at the theory -- if he -- if he actually did put the bomb around his neck on his own, that after he was handcuffed, he -- maybe he was trying to get them to come over and do something very quickly because he could not do it himself now that he was handcuffed.
But handcuffing someone like that in that situation is normal procedure for law-enforcement agencies to do.
COLLINS: OK. All right. Mike Brooks.
We appreciate it so much.
We're going to keep following this story, as you might imagine, as more information comes out about the investigation.
Thanks so much, Mike.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Explodes>
Aired September 1, 2003 - 10:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Erie City, Pennsylvania, are unraveling the bizarre death of a pizza delivery man. Forty-six- year-old Brian Douglas Wells told police officers he had been abducted, strapped with a bomb, and forced to rob a bank. He begged for police to free him from the bomb when it exploded.
Police are investigating it as a homicide, but they're downplaying a new twist. A friend and co-worker of Wells was found dead at his home yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN MCCABE, FBI SPECIAL AGENT I'm not going to comment on the death of this individual yesterday. The county coroner, Pennsylvania State police, Erie police are investigating that. An autopsy will be performed today.
If there's any information that's derived through their investigation that links to the -- to our investigation, because of our outstanding relationship with them, they will share that information with us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We want to go ahead and get some perspective from CNN Correspondent Mike Brooks who worked in law enforcement for many years.
And maybe you can tell us a little bit about this. We want to clarify, too, the gentleman who was found dead was found in his own home.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly.
COLLINS: He lived with his parents. He was not found in the home of this Wells gentleman.
BROOKS: Right. Very, very bizarre, Heidi.
But this is a 43-year-old pizza delivery man who was living at home with his parents. At about 5:00 a.m., the -- 911 got a call that he needed some assistance for medical reasons. They came there. He refused transport. His parents went back, and they found him dead at 9:00 a.m. in the morning, four hours later. So the -- was this a mystery, or was this a homicide? We don't know right now. Law-enforcement sources are saying it looks like it's natural causes, Heidi, but they should have the toxicology tests back by tomorrow.
I spoke just a short time ago with an FBI spokesperson. He said that the district attorney's office, along with the state police, will hold a press conference tomorrow, and they'll have the results of the toxicology test.
They'll also probably know whether there was any link to this particular death in this man's home and to the bank robbery. Very, very bizarre.
COLLINS: It is bizarre. Why did they think there was a link in the first place? Just because they worked for the same company?
BROOKS: Just because they worked for the same small company and same -- and also because it was so close together, and there was a number of theories.
We heard earlier -- we just saw the piece from Ken McCabe, who's the special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office of the FBI, and he was saying that there's five theories, but there -- there could be one theory. There could be five.
But some of the ones they're looking at: Did he act alone? Did someone put him up to this like he is saying, the deceased, is saying from the robbery?
But what doesn't make sense is, if someone straps a bomb to you and sends you into a bank to rob bank and they're asking for money, what happens when the bomb goes off? No one gets the money. And they already had arrested him.
Secondly, was there a vendetta against the bank? Thirdly, was this robber -- was he of of an altered mental status? You know, they're looking into all these different theories. The FBI lab is also looking into some -- is also assisting in this case.
COLLINS: Do they know anything about his mental health -- past mental health?
BROOKS: They're looking into that right now.
On the evidence side of things, they're looking at a lengthy note that he gave the tellers when he went into the bank. They are going to take handwriting samples probably from his house compared to those in the note.
They'll also go back to his house, do a search of his house, and see if there are any components that were in the house that may add up to the components of which the bomb was made of.
COLLINS: OK. We're looking at that video that we have been seeing kind of over the weekend a little bit, and there's no denying that it was just unbelievable video, about 20 minutes or so that he sat there begging for his life. What are authorities are saying about that? It just have been difficult.
BROOKS: It was very difficult for them, and the two state troopers who were closest to him -- they also apparently were slightly injured because they handcuffed him.
But if they thought he had an explosive device, they are taught to back off and wait for the trained explosive technicians to come in. These are bomb technicians that -- you know, it's not -- they have to go in and actually do a hand render safe for this.
You know, it's not easy as we see on TV with cops coming in, you know, cut the red wire, cut the green wire. It's not that easy. You have to have trained technicians come in. Even if it was not a real bomb, you still would treat it as such, but, in this case, it was a real bomb.
COLLINS: It was. And I can't imagine what sort of training they would have to be able to go into a situation so quickly like that, assess the type of bomb, and then figure out how to dismantle it.
BROOKS: Right. Well, these -- these law-enforcement officers and FBI agents are highly trained explosives technicians that specialize in this kind of thing, and that's why they backed off and waited.
Now they said he was handcuffed, and that's sort of looking at the theory -- if he -- if he actually did put the bomb around his neck on his own, that after he was handcuffed, he -- maybe he was trying to get them to come over and do something very quickly because he could not do it himself now that he was handcuffed.
But handcuffing someone like that in that situation is normal procedure for law-enforcement agencies to do.
COLLINS: OK. All right. Mike Brooks.
We appreciate it so much.
We're going to keep following this story, as you might imagine, as more information comes out about the investigation.
Thanks so much, Mike.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Explodes>
