FBI arrests 5 trying to blow up bridge

[Thomas Veil]

...or, WTF Is Wrong with People, installment #4,599.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The FBI arrested five men Monday evening, saying they had planted what were believed to be explosive devices under the Ohio 82 bridge over Cuyahoga Valley National Park as part of a May Day protest today.

The five men were “self-proclaimed anarchists,” who intended to detonate two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under the bridge in Sagamore Hills, but had purchased the inert devices from undercover FBI agents, officials said.

View Larger Mapbut what they thought were bombs were actually "intert devices," the FBI said in a news conference this morning.

Arrested by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and charged with conspiracy and attempted use of explosive materials were: Douglas Wright, 26; Brandon L. Baxter, 20; and Anthony Hayne, 35.

All three are “self-proclaimed anarchists who formed a small group and considered a series of evolving plots over several months,” according to the complaint filed today by the FBI.

Wright had also talked about "getting a car that they can drive into the Federal Reserve Bank" in Cleveland to blow it up, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Ryan Taylor.

The arrests Monday evening show that “the threat we face is a diverse one and terrorist can come from many hues and many homelands,” said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

“Despite the defendants’ worst intentions and aims during the entire course of yesterday’s operation, the public was never in danger,” Dettelbach said. “The defendants never possessed at any time any really explosive materials and the arrests warrants were signed before they got in the car and went to the bridge.”

First and foremost: a big salute to the FBI. Another impressive job.

Second of all, it'll be interesting seeing how all this came down. There are already people trying to tie this to OWS. But according to some stories, the informant who led the FBI to these idiots met them at a protest, and then snitched on them to the Feds. If that's the case, it's entirely possible an OWS member may've helped law enforcement.

Third (and for me, most unnerving of all), I've seen the suspects' names...and I just might know one of them.

Finally, what the hell is in the water in my neck of the woods lately? Over the past few weeks we've had:

• a student shoot up his high school;
• a father murder his family at a Cracker Barrel;
• a homophobic dad who triggered a protest;
• and now these anarchist idiots.