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Police Released Sketches of Two Male Suspects in Mysterious Robbery

Aired September 09, 2003 - 07:16   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to update you right now on that bizarre bank robbery in Erie, Pennsylvania. Investigators are now saying new evidence indicates that 46-year-old Brian Wells perhaps did not act alone. He's the pizza delivery man who robbed a bank in Erie with a pipe bomb clamped to his neck. He was arrested, told police that he had been forced to commit the crime. But before that bomb could be removed, it exploded, killing Wells on the street.
Don Clark is a former FBI investigator, back with us to talk about this case, live in Houston.

Great to have you back. Good morning to you.

DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Good morning, Bill. Good to be back.

HEMMER: Why release this information, what appears to be at a very late date? Why not do it a week or two ago?

CLARK: Well, I think they were trying to get all of their ducks in order as much as they possibly can, Bill. This is a really, really, to say the least, mysterious case. And you've got several points of view out there. And I think if they're going to get the public's assistance in this, they need to try to be as specific as they can about what they are going to release and when they're going to release to get the best results back. So, that's why I think they may have been holding it a little close to the chest.

HEMMER: But does it also perhaps tell you that they're a bit desperate right now?

CLARK: Well this is a hard case, and after my 23 years, I wouldn't want to have this hat on. But look at what's going on there. They've got three possibilities. And the question is out of those three possibilities of whether he acted alone, whether he was in concert with someone, or whether he was actually a victim, which one do they have the most evidence to try to lead towards? That's how they've got to structure their priorities to see where they're going to go with their investigation.

HEMMER: You just spelled out their three working theories right now. Which one do you think is the most likely right now?

CLARK: Well, it's difficult to say. For me, I would look at it this way and say that the evidence has to be the key to point to which one of those that the investigators need to take as a priority. Any one, Bill, is viable at this point, and they should not rule out either one to include the one that he could have acted alone.

HEMMER: Yes, I also understand that you believe it's possible that this was a crime set to be carried out against law enforcement. Am I accurate with that read?

CLARK: Well, it's a possibility. And you have to look at all things, and I learned from an investigator that, look, you just don't close your mind to any one particular avenue. And it has been before that people have set themselves up so that they could harm law enforcement officers. And I've to believe that this has to be a consideration that they might be thinking about as well.

HEMMER: All right, listen, we also learned yesterday that part of this note told him to go through a local drive-thru at a McDonald's restaurant. Part of this note then was to take him along a series of stops along an interstate with a line of woods. What does that signal to you, if anything?

CLARK: Well, it really -- it's just laying out the scheme. And the question is: Who laid out this scheme? Did Brian Wells lay it out, or did the other people lay it out? And so, what's going to make this work, Bill, is that they've got to have the profilers. And I'm a great believer in the profilers and behavioral science people. Those are the people who are going to have to really dissect this note and at least give them some pointers as to what all of this information means.

HEMMER: Yes, finally, we put up the sketches earlier. We'll put them up again for you yet again. They are looking, they say, for a white man and a black man. There were descriptions given, but they were quite vague based on what the FBI was reporting yesterday. Does it indicate to you, listening to the investigators talk yesterday, that he was not acting alone?

CLARK: Well, when they put out that information, it tells me that, look, they've got some more information that says maybe, out of those three theories, that he could have had someone else. Keep in mind, when they said that -- they didn't say, that my information was, that he wasn't acting alone. They said perhaps. And that leaves a doubt there when they use those types of verbage.

HEMMER: Well, listen, I think we're going to talk again on this, if that's all right with you.

CLARK: You bet, Bill.

HEMMER: Because the mystery is still out there. Don Clark, thanks, live in Houston, Texas, this morning.

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





Mysterious Robbery>


Aired September 9, 2003 - 07:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to update you right now on that bizarre bank robbery in Erie, Pennsylvania. Investigators are now saying new evidence indicates that 46-year-old Brian Wells perhaps did not act alone. He's the pizza delivery man who robbed a bank in Erie with a pipe bomb clamped to his neck. He was arrested, told police that he had been forced to commit the crime. But before that bomb could be removed, it exploded, killing Wells on the street.
Don Clark is a former FBI investigator, back with us to talk about this case, live in Houston.

Great to have you back. Good morning to you.

DON CLARK, FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR: Good morning, Bill. Good to be back.

HEMMER: Why release this information, what appears to be at a very late date? Why not do it a week or two ago?

CLARK: Well, I think they were trying to get all of their ducks in order as much as they possibly can, Bill. This is a really, really, to say the least, mysterious case. And you've got several points of view out there. And I think if they're going to get the public's assistance in this, they need to try to be as specific as they can about what they are going to release and when they're going to release to get the best results back. So, that's why I think they may have been holding it a little close to the chest.

HEMMER: But does it also perhaps tell you that they're a bit desperate right now?

CLARK: Well this is a hard case, and after my 23 years, I wouldn't want to have this hat on. But look at what's going on there. They've got three possibilities. And the question is out of those three possibilities of whether he acted alone, whether he was in concert with someone, or whether he was actually a victim, which one do they have the most evidence to try to lead towards? That's how they've got to structure their priorities to see where they're going to go with their investigation.

HEMMER: You just spelled out their three working theories right now. Which one do you think is the most likely right now?

CLARK: Well, it's difficult to say. For me, I would look at it this way and say that the evidence has to be the key to point to which one of those that the investigators need to take as a priority. Any one, Bill, is viable at this point, and they should not rule out either one to include the one that he could have acted alone.

HEMMER: Yes, I also understand that you believe it's possible that this was a crime set to be carried out against law enforcement. Am I accurate with that read?

CLARK: Well, it's a possibility. And you have to look at all things, and I learned from an investigator that, look, you just don't close your mind to any one particular avenue. And it has been before that people have set themselves up so that they could harm law enforcement officers. And I've to believe that this has to be a consideration that they might be thinking about as well.

HEMMER: All right, listen, we also learned yesterday that part of this note told him to go through a local drive-thru at a McDonald's restaurant. Part of this note then was to take him along a series of stops along an interstate with a line of woods. What does that signal to you, if anything?

CLARK: Well, it really -- it's just laying out the scheme. And the question is: Who laid out this scheme? Did Brian Wells lay it out, or did the other people lay it out? And so, what's going to make this work, Bill, is that they've got to have the profilers. And I'm a great believer in the profilers and behavioral science people. Those are the people who are going to have to really dissect this note and at least give them some pointers as to what all of this information means.

HEMMER: Yes, finally, we put up the sketches earlier. We'll put them up again for you yet again. They are looking, they say, for a white man and a black man. There were descriptions given, but they were quite vague based on what the FBI was reporting yesterday. Does it indicate to you, listening to the investigators talk yesterday, that he was not acting alone?

CLARK: Well, when they put out that information, it tells me that, look, they've got some more information that says maybe, out of those three theories, that he could have had someone else. Keep in mind, when they said that -- they didn't say, that my information was, that he wasn't acting alone. They said perhaps. And that leaves a doubt there when they use those types of verbage.

HEMMER: Well, listen, I think we're going to talk again on this, if that's all right with you.

CLARK: You bet, Bill.

HEMMER: Because the mystery is still out there. Don Clark, thanks, live in Houston, Texas, this morning.

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





Mysterious Robbery>