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Police on Scene in Erie Not trained for Bomb Dismantlement

Aired September 02, 2003 - 13:07   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Erie, Pennsylvania, a baffling case for investigators. It involves a bank robbery, a bomb, and now two dead pizza parlor workers. Today, investigators are asking for your help. CNN's Mike Brooks is here to fill us in on -- well, I'm sure you've seen a lot of odd cases in your tenure in law enforcement, but this one is up there, isn't it?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: This is way up there, Miles. And earlier today, a press conference was held with the Pennsylvania State Police, the district attorney office in Erie County. And they talked a little bit about the device actually that was actually holding what now is believed to be an unsophisticated bomb, what was holding that around the neck of Brian Wells.

O'BRIEN: All right. So this device -- and if we can get some pictures up maybe to support this because it kind of looked like -- well, there it is. It's a collar, almost a giant handcuff type of thing.

The idea was -- his story, prior to this thing blowing up and he dying -- was that he was an innocent victim, somebody had strapped this on him, told him to go rob a bank. Are authorities believing that story now?

BROOKS: Well, they're still looking into it. They said they have not discounted any scenario at all. Whether he acted alone, whether he was held -- what they're calling now as a hostage bomb, a bomb hostage, I should say.

And with this locking mechanism, we heard him say yesterday in some of our reports we were talking about, that someone today said he turned the key so that someone actually put this on this person or not. But there's still one hour that's not accounted -- approximately an hour not accounted for. From the time the call came in he pick up a pizza, delivered it to an address. That address ended up being actually a radio tower where there was not anywhere there.

Then next thing, he shows up at this bank, robbing the bank with a bomb around his neck.

O'BRIEN: All right, meanwhile, the death of a roommate and fellow worker at the pizza parlor. Perhaps coincidental?

BROOKS: Well they say the death of Robert Pinetti, who was a 43- year-old pizza delivery man, worked for the same company, that he and wells were friends. They're looking into the -- looking to see if there's any other relationship between the two.

But they said that basically, they were two -- they were co- workers and friends and that's as far as it goes. They believe that Pinetti died of natural causes. They said he has a history of substance abuse, they found some methadone and also some traces of Valium in the preliminary tests in his urine.

But they do believe that it was natural causes. Paramedics were called to the house that he shares with his parents at 5:00 a.m. They came back at 9. They were recalled back to the scene at 9:00 a.m. 10:00, he was pronounced dead.

O'BRIEN: Interesting coincidence. We heard from the FBI a little while ago. As a matter of fact, let's roll a little excerpt of that briefing that they gave us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB RUDGE, FBI: The preliminary exam regarding the collar that was on the neck of the victim has been examined by personnel at the laboratory.

It is unique in its construction. The lab's opinion at this point in time is that it is not likely that it was commercially manufactured. And we do not believe that it has any legitimate industrial use. Its most likely purpose was specifically for attaching the device to the neck of the individual that went into the PNC bank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Final thought here, whether he was a victim or was a perpetrator, as law enforcement likes to use the term, did police act quickly enough and could they have averted this in some way by getting that off his neck?

BROOKS: I think they acted quickly enough. They arrived at the bank, he was coming out of the bank after holding with up what he says was a bomb. They handcuffed him -- they didn't know what the scenario was. They waited for bomb technicians to arrive. While they were waiting the for bomb technicians to arrive, that's when the bomb went off.

The officers on the scene were not trained to deal with this explosive device. If they had gone up and tried to deal with this which they were told not to, because they're not professionals -- professional bomb technicians, they, too, would have put themselves in danger.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Mike Brooks, keep us posted on this one. And as the tale unravels, hopefully, we'll a full story for us on exactly what happened in Erie, Pennsylvania.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Dismantlement>


Aired September 2, 2003 - 13:07   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In Erie, Pennsylvania, a baffling case for investigators. It involves a bank robbery, a bomb, and now two dead pizza parlor workers. Today, investigators are asking for your help. CNN's Mike Brooks is here to fill us in on -- well, I'm sure you've seen a lot of odd cases in your tenure in law enforcement, but this one is up there, isn't it?
MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: This is way up there, Miles. And earlier today, a press conference was held with the Pennsylvania State Police, the district attorney office in Erie County. And they talked a little bit about the device actually that was actually holding what now is believed to be an unsophisticated bomb, what was holding that around the neck of Brian Wells.

O'BRIEN: All right. So this device -- and if we can get some pictures up maybe to support this because it kind of looked like -- well, there it is. It's a collar, almost a giant handcuff type of thing.

The idea was -- his story, prior to this thing blowing up and he dying -- was that he was an innocent victim, somebody had strapped this on him, told him to go rob a bank. Are authorities believing that story now?

BROOKS: Well, they're still looking into it. They said they have not discounted any scenario at all. Whether he acted alone, whether he was held -- what they're calling now as a hostage bomb, a bomb hostage, I should say.

And with this locking mechanism, we heard him say yesterday in some of our reports we were talking about, that someone today said he turned the key so that someone actually put this on this person or not. But there's still one hour that's not accounted -- approximately an hour not accounted for. From the time the call came in he pick up a pizza, delivered it to an address. That address ended up being actually a radio tower where there was not anywhere there.

Then next thing, he shows up at this bank, robbing the bank with a bomb around his neck.

O'BRIEN: All right, meanwhile, the death of a roommate and fellow worker at the pizza parlor. Perhaps coincidental?

BROOKS: Well they say the death of Robert Pinetti, who was a 43- year-old pizza delivery man, worked for the same company, that he and wells were friends. They're looking into the -- looking to see if there's any other relationship between the two.

But they said that basically, they were two -- they were co- workers and friends and that's as far as it goes. They believe that Pinetti died of natural causes. They said he has a history of substance abuse, they found some methadone and also some traces of Valium in the preliminary tests in his urine.

But they do believe that it was natural causes. Paramedics were called to the house that he shares with his parents at 5:00 a.m. They came back at 9. They were recalled back to the scene at 9:00 a.m. 10:00, he was pronounced dead.

O'BRIEN: Interesting coincidence. We heard from the FBI a little while ago. As a matter of fact, let's roll a little excerpt of that briefing that they gave us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB RUDGE, FBI: The preliminary exam regarding the collar that was on the neck of the victim has been examined by personnel at the laboratory.

It is unique in its construction. The lab's opinion at this point in time is that it is not likely that it was commercially manufactured. And we do not believe that it has any legitimate industrial use. Its most likely purpose was specifically for attaching the device to the neck of the individual that went into the PNC bank.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Final thought here, whether he was a victim or was a perpetrator, as law enforcement likes to use the term, did police act quickly enough and could they have averted this in some way by getting that off his neck?

BROOKS: I think they acted quickly enough. They arrived at the bank, he was coming out of the bank after holding with up what he says was a bomb. They handcuffed him -- they didn't know what the scenario was. They waited for bomb technicians to arrive. While they were waiting the for bomb technicians to arrive, that's when the bomb went off.

The officers on the scene were not trained to deal with this explosive device. If they had gone up and tried to deal with this which they were told not to, because they're not professionals -- professional bomb technicians, they, too, would have put themselves in danger.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Mike Brooks, keep us posted on this one. And as the tale unravels, hopefully, we'll a full story for us on exactly what happened in Erie, Pennsylvania.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Dismantlement>