Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong
Kenneth E. Barnes
Brian Wells
Posted on 07/11/2007 12:11:55 PM PDT by sportutegrl
ERIE, Pa. — A pizza deliveryman who robbed a bank and was killed when the bomb around his neck exploded wasn't a hostage — he was a conspirator in the plot, federal authorities said Wednesday.
The deliveryman, Brian Wells, 46, had told police before the bomb exploded in August 2003 that he was an innocent victim and had been forced by gunmen to rob the bank.
However, in the indictments unsealed Wednesday, Wells is named as a co-conspirator. Two other people, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and her friend Kenneth E. Barnes, are charged with bank robbery, conspiracy and a firearms count.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Sounds like police are looking for an out.
That had to be one of the weirdest stories.
The police aren’t trained to de-activate bombs. Plus, the guy was apparently banking on the police doing so if caught. He did not plan on them doing nothing...........
It does seem too over-the-top dumb to be possible. I can see how he might have pretended to wear a bomb collar. But why on earth would he ever have put on a real bomb collar.
On the other hand, the police and the prosecutors have a good reason to say that he was complicit, because it takes them off the hook for keeping him standing there until he blew up.
As I understand it, police were wisely waiting for a bomb squad. However I have a lot of trouble believing the guy would knowingly attach a live bomb to his neck.
That’s why I use my fake bomb collar in situations like this. I figure that life is too short to take this kind of risk.
Looks like it would be easier to just kill the father personally.
Very odd story. Seems unlikely the guy would voluntarily agree to have a real bomb, as opposed to a fake one, put around his neck.
They never helped the poor guy, never made a move to get the neck thing off, just sat there and watched him explode.
As the article says, they were waiting for the bomb squad when the device detonated. Or do you think untrained people should attempt to disarm a bomb?
I doubt Erie, PA has a bomb squad standing by on ready at all times.
The alleged plan makes no sense. Why strap a real bomb around your neck when a fake one would be just as convincing? Why start the timer? In any case there have to be easier ways to make $8000.
“”””How could somebody be in on it if his head gets blown off?””””
Do you think perhaps that he was duped by the ringleaders?
The plan was diabolical - they led Wells to believe he would be considered by LE to be just a victim/hostage - he probably didn’t realize the rest of their plan. i.e. just in case things went badly - they could blow him up - he would be a dead witness and couldn’t crack under police pressure.
Well it worked for four years.
I don’t buy this at all. I watched it unfold on TV too and thought at the time that the cops just didn’t believe the guy. If he’d been in on it why the bomb around his neck? If they put the bomb around his neck against his will that abrogates the arguement for his complicity, doesn’t it? It doesn’t make sense to me.
Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong
Kenneth E. Barnes
Brian Wells
Yeah, but would he voluntarily bet his life on it?
He did and he lost...........Big Time!......
It makes no sense. If he was in on it it seems like he would have had access to an emergency shut off.
Anything else makes him the victim.
That may be so, but why smear the poor guy now?
They were betting the police would “save” him, find it was a real bomb and not look at him too closely. He could say the perps were “big black guys in masks” and throw them off the trail........
It was frustrating to watch.
None of them look very bright. Were any of them machinists or mechanics? There was not only the bomb; there was a home-made gun that looked like a cane.
Mrs VS
I got the feeling at the time this happened that he (Brian Wells) was the type of person who could be easily taken advantage of - not necessarily that he was developmentally disabled but perhaps a little slow. I could see a situation in which they convinced him to be involved in some way but didn’t give him the “full story” as to what would happen. Perhaps they told him they were putting on a “fake” bomb and then after it was attached informed him otherwise. He did seem to know that he had a real bomb around his neck.
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