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Explosive Device in Pizza Man Bombing Case Not Sophisticated Device

Aired September 02, 2003 - 11:15   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: We want to get to Mike Brooks now to kind of break this down a little bit for us.
We heard from Mark Zaleski, the Pennsylvania State Police first.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right.

COLLINS: And then very interesting detail coming from Bob Rudge of the FBI, talking about the device, the collar-like device around the neck of Brian Wells. Tell us a little bit about that and what it said to you.

BROOKS: Well, what I'm hearing is, the bomb itself, the explosive device, improvised explosive device, was not very sophisticated, but this collar looks to be fairly sophisticated. And whether or not the collar device that we're looking at, with the different keys, we know that -- and yesterday, we reported that Mr. Wells, while he was handcuffed in front of the police car, was talking about turning the bomb off, about -- he heard a key turn and a key click.

So, that's what we are probably talking about with those different four locks. The way -- exact way it works, we don't know. All this has been sent to Quantico to the FBI explosives lab for their examiners to take a look at this. And it's something -- in my years in law enforcement, I have never seen anything quite like this, as a mechanism or any -- as a firing mechanism or as a timing device. So, I'd be interested to see exactly how this was working also.

But they are asking for the public's help in finding out exactly if anyone recognized this, possibly if it was bought commercially. But they are saying it does not appear to be commercially made. It appears to be made -- the collar appears to be made specifically for this particular case. So did someone -- is this homemade? Did they buy the components somewhere else? That's what the FBI is going to try to find out.

COLLINS: Absolutely. And we should mention, too, you brought up the tip line. They said they are going to give that number out. And, of course, we will do the same just as soon it becomes available, up and running, that is.

Let me ask you this. What does it say to you that they also said in that press conference that there are a whole lot of leads coming in? They are still investigating this as a homicide. BROOKS: They still are looking at this as a homicide. The leads apparently are coming in. They said they are covering leads by the hour.

They have formed a task force. So at least it's substantial enough for them to form a task force to ask for the public's help. And the public apparently is responding by phoning in leads. I think the more that they see this -- Mr. Wells' picture on TV, the more that people will say, hey, I might have seen this guy somewhere. Maybe I saw him at this store. Maybe I saw him here.

Because they're still not sure of the last hour. From the time he picked up that pizza to the time he showed up at the bank, they're still not sure exactly what happened. His boss said that he did pick up a pizza and he delivered it to a address that was called in. That address was in fact a radio tower where no one was there. Now, Law enforcement has said they responded to that area. That processed that crime scene. That evidence, along with the evidence that was taken from Mr. Wells' house and from the scene, the post-blast scene after the bomb went off, all that has been taken in.

As the FBI said, they are trying to reconstruct that particular device in the FBI lab, the explosive lab also. So that also could help them find out exactly where the components of that bomb were bought, where they were made. The FBI has extensive records. They have an extensive database of batteries, of components, of switches, whether they were bought at RadioShack, Home Depot, those kind of things, and by manufacturer. So they should be able to get to the bottom of this fairly quickly.

COLLINS: OK, it might take some time. But, geez, we've got the FBI, the police, the ATF -- who else? -- bomb squad, the DA's office.

BROOKS: Right.

COLLINS: A huge number of different agencies coming together for this task force to try to work on it together.

I also want to mention, before we let you go, saying in this press conference that the death of Mr. Robert Pinetti still at this time no connection between the two, a co-worker of his.

BROOKS: Co-worker and friend. That was the relationship. They said they are still looking in to see if there was any further relationship with them. But I'm told that they were good friends and were co-workers. And as far as law enforcement knew, as of yesterday and today, that was the extent of the relationship. But they're still looking into that fact also.

COLLINS: That's right, talking a little bit about the possibility of a drug overdose, still doing some preliminary testing and waiting for a couple weeks, possibly, on those results as well.

BROOKS: Right. Could be from days to weeks, depending on the amount and how long it will take the toxicology reports to come back. But, yes, positive in his urine with methadone and it looks like a chemical.

COLLINS: Benzos.

BROOKS: Benzos, similar to Valium.

COLLINS: OK, very good. Mike Brooks, thanks so very much for that. We appreciate it.

BROOKS: Sure.

COLLINS: Also want to let everyone know that the pictures that you just saw of that device, you see them there, you can find those, if you would like to get a closer look and possibly have any information about them, you can go to www.FBI.gov. Those pictures will be on there, I assume for quite some time. And you can hopefully call in with any information that you might have on them.

Actually, we are hearing now that that will be posted, those pictures, a little bit later today. So check in there. And maybe you will have some information for the government about this 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




Sophisticated Device>


Aired September 2, 2003 - 11:15   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get to Mike Brooks now to kind of break this down a little bit for us.
We heard from Mark Zaleski, the Pennsylvania State Police first.

MIKE BROOKS, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Right.

COLLINS: And then very interesting detail coming from Bob Rudge of the FBI, talking about the device, the collar-like device around the neck of Brian Wells. Tell us a little bit about that and what it said to you.

BROOKS: Well, what I'm hearing is, the bomb itself, the explosive device, improvised explosive device, was not very sophisticated, but this collar looks to be fairly sophisticated. And whether or not the collar device that we're looking at, with the different keys, we know that -- and yesterday, we reported that Mr. Wells, while he was handcuffed in front of the police car, was talking about turning the bomb off, about -- he heard a key turn and a key click.

So, that's what we are probably talking about with those different four locks. The way -- exact way it works, we don't know. All this has been sent to Quantico to the FBI explosives lab for their examiners to take a look at this. And it's something -- in my years in law enforcement, I have never seen anything quite like this, as a mechanism or any -- as a firing mechanism or as a timing device. So, I'd be interested to see exactly how this was working also.

But they are asking for the public's help in finding out exactly if anyone recognized this, possibly if it was bought commercially. But they are saying it does not appear to be commercially made. It appears to be made -- the collar appears to be made specifically for this particular case. So did someone -- is this homemade? Did they buy the components somewhere else? That's what the FBI is going to try to find out.

COLLINS: Absolutely. And we should mention, too, you brought up the tip line. They said they are going to give that number out. And, of course, we will do the same just as soon it becomes available, up and running, that is.

Let me ask you this. What does it say to you that they also said in that press conference that there are a whole lot of leads coming in? They are still investigating this as a homicide. BROOKS: They still are looking at this as a homicide. The leads apparently are coming in. They said they are covering leads by the hour.

They have formed a task force. So at least it's substantial enough for them to form a task force to ask for the public's help. And the public apparently is responding by phoning in leads. I think the more that they see this -- Mr. Wells' picture on TV, the more that people will say, hey, I might have seen this guy somewhere. Maybe I saw him at this store. Maybe I saw him here.

Because they're still not sure of the last hour. From the time he picked up that pizza to the time he showed up at the bank, they're still not sure exactly what happened. His boss said that he did pick up a pizza and he delivered it to a address that was called in. That address was in fact a radio tower where no one was there. Now, Law enforcement has said they responded to that area. That processed that crime scene. That evidence, along with the evidence that was taken from Mr. Wells' house and from the scene, the post-blast scene after the bomb went off, all that has been taken in.

As the FBI said, they are trying to reconstruct that particular device in the FBI lab, the explosive lab also. So that also could help them find out exactly where the components of that bomb were bought, where they were made. The FBI has extensive records. They have an extensive database of batteries, of components, of switches, whether they were bought at RadioShack, Home Depot, those kind of things, and by manufacturer. So they should be able to get to the bottom of this fairly quickly.

COLLINS: OK, it might take some time. But, geez, we've got the FBI, the police, the ATF -- who else? -- bomb squad, the DA's office.

BROOKS: Right.

COLLINS: A huge number of different agencies coming together for this task force to try to work on it together.

I also want to mention, before we let you go, saying in this press conference that the death of Mr. Robert Pinetti still at this time no connection between the two, a co-worker of his.

BROOKS: Co-worker and friend. That was the relationship. They said they are still looking in to see if there was any further relationship with them. But I'm told that they were good friends and were co-workers. And as far as law enforcement knew, as of yesterday and today, that was the extent of the relationship. But they're still looking into that fact also.

COLLINS: That's right, talking a little bit about the possibility of a drug overdose, still doing some preliminary testing and waiting for a couple weeks, possibly, on those results as well.

BROOKS: Right. Could be from days to weeks, depending on the amount and how long it will take the toxicology reports to come back. But, yes, positive in his urine with methadone and it looks like a chemical.

COLLINS: Benzos.

BROOKS: Benzos, similar to Valium.

COLLINS: OK, very good. Mike Brooks, thanks so very much for that. We appreciate it.

BROOKS: Sure.

COLLINS: Also want to let everyone know that the pictures that you just saw of that device, you see them there, you can find those, if you would like to get a closer look and possibly have any information about them, you can go to www.FBI.gov. Those pictures will be on there, I assume for quite some time. And you can hopefully call in with any information that you might have on them.

Actually, we are hearing now that that will be posted, those pictures, a little bit later today. So check in there. And maybe you will have some information for the government about this 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




Sophisticated Device>