FBI Raids Erie Home After Man's Bombing Death

WPXI(Channel 11 Pittsburgh) ^ | 9/05/02 | Gina Redmond

[Dane]

FBI Raids Erie Home After Man's Bombing Death
Man Robs Bank, Dies With Bomb Strapped To Body
Gina Redmond

POSTED: 5:35 p.m. EDT September 5, 2003
UPDATED: 5:42 p.m. EDT September 5, 2003

PITTSBURGH -- Late Friday afternoon, the FBI raided another house in downtown Erie in search of answers in a pizza delivery man's death.

And there's another bizarre twist to the death of Brian Wells, who was killed by a bomb that blew up after he robbed an Erie bank last week.

Police said Wells was carrying a second customized weapon during the bank robbery.

The transcript from the 911 call made shortly after the robbery was released Friday.

Witness: "The guy just walked out with I don't know how much cash in a bag and a bomb or something wrapped around his neck. He's sitting in the parking lot of McDonald's. I'm watching him out of my rear-view mirror now."

911 dispatcher: "You saw him with a bomb, or whatever it was?"

Witness: "Yea, he's got it strapped around his neck."

Police are still trying to figure out if Brian Wells was a willing participant in the bank robbery, or whether someone had put the bomb on him and forced him to rob the bank.

And there's another layer to this perplexing case. Investigators found a customized weapon: a single-shot firearm disguised as a walking cane.

They found the cane gun in Wells' car when he was arrested. The Erie Times and News reported that Wells carried the cane gun into the bank but never used it to threaten workers

[Calpernia]

******He died about two hours after he left Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria to deliver pizzas to an address off Peach Street that turned out to be a remote gravel drive and a broadcast transmission tower. ******

I found this interesting.

[abner]

Lots of new info here.

[Calpernia]

I saw info in articles above that said the police had a '9 page'(???) note of instructions. As to when they read it, I don't know. I saw quotes from Well's above about him telling the police 'let me tell you where to get the keys'.

I don't know more than that.

[FITZ]

I have compassion for him if he turns out to have been an unwilling victim, but for now my theory is he was somehow involved.

My guess is he was an unwilling victim but maybe got involved with the wrong kind of people --- if he had drugs in his system, it's possible he owed someone money and they decided to use him to show how important paying up is ---- or his drug use just put him around bad types. I think the ones behind this had some clue about him --- especially if he seemed to be a slow thinker.

[stlnative]

in the top picture it is strapped to Wells still, see his t-shirt, also notice the key looking thing on the far right. It not a simple design if you ask me, sure it was probably easy to make, the metal part of it and the neck strap, but it took time to set up the rest of it and knowing how to attach a bomb to it. It is a shame they don't have pictures of it before it exploded.

[frodolives]

Yes, another FReeper described him as "taunting" the police to rescue him. Maybe he just wanted to take as many cops and bystanders as he could with him when he went.

[stlnative]

also the wiring looks like phone wiring... the collar part that locks seems like it came off of something and that maybe that part of it was not made by the person who strapped it on him. Notice the locking slots on the far left, you can see 3 of them in a row.

My guess is this part of it is used regularly in some type of industry... possibly to strap an electrical box onto a large pipe at any point that is needed? Years ago I worked for company that made industrial heating elements for plastic companies that could be strapped and locked on to a pipe at any point and at anytime and they kinda looked like this...

[Calpernia]

This top pic? http://www.fbi.gov/page2/device2.jpg

How can you tell this was before or after it exploded?

[Calpernia]

>>>Years ago I worked for company that made industrial heating elements for plastic companies that could be strapped and locked on to a pipe at any point and at anytime and they kinda looked like this...

Ah! That is why you know what you are looking at :) !

[Calpernia]

Do you think that could have been removed if the bomb squad got there sooner?

[Nita Nupress]

How did they get it off of his head?

[Eva]

I have an idea. Someone posted that they researched the bomb collar and found that Venezuela drug lords had used such a device before. My guess is that this guy owed money to the cartel and they put a collar on him and told him to get the money before it went off, that they thought it would be a good idea if he robbed the bank to get the money. So, he did and they didn't, remove the collar, that is. The guy paniced and called the police. Too late, the bomb exploded.

[motexva]

Read the profile of the pizza delivery guy in the NY Times or Wash Post. He doesn't sound like someone who would get messed up with Venezuelan drug cartels or who could be capable of constructing a bomb like this.

[Devil_Anse]

Why was he wearing two T-shirts?

Because the big metal thing would have been very uncomfortable to have right next to bare skin.

Who cared enough to take care of this detail?

[Nita Nupress]

The real question is: Did they somehow manage to remove the device from his head? Or did they have to remove his head from the device? Poor guy.

[Devil_Anse]

I agree--I don't think he was expected to live. And as for their getting money out of this, I agree that they didn't really expect to get the money... there's got to be an easier way for a criminal to get money! Like--intimidate Wells into robbing the bank, while watching him from a distance? Without the bomb collar. Or with a bomb collar that wouldn't really go off, but which Wells (the "simple" guy, remember)sincerely believed would go off.

So I think some really cruel, vicious person or persons got big jollies off doing this to this pathetic man. This doesn't mean that they didn't also have another purpose, such as payback for Wells owing them money which he couldn't pay. And to make an example of him, so others who owed them money would see it.

And now we see it mentioned that Wells was an "associate" of the 21-yr-old son of that woman, Marilyn Torres, whose garage was this big hangout. Could Wells have seen things he wasn't supposed to see? Drug trade?

[Devil_Anse]

I think you're getting closer to the truth here.

[Devil_Anse]

And I think you are getting STILL closer to the truth here!

[Devil_Anse]

That's a good question, b/c contrary to what some people said early on, his head was not severed from his body. In fact, I think the injury which killed him was directly on his chest.

[Devil_Anse]

I think you've got a good idea there. Except it was Colombian drug lords, not Venezualan, and Wells didn't call the police himself.

But the idea about him owing money sounds good to me.