The attempted terror attack you didn't hear about last week

While everyone has been busy online investigating the Las Vegas shooting, a terror attack was stopped at the Ashville, NC airport last Friday. Last Friday, at 12:39 am, Michael Christopher Estes was seen walking into the airport, carrying a bag. He walked near the security area, out of site of the cameras, and was seen shortly after walking out without the bag. Security personnel found the bag, and brought an explosives dog over, who alerted on the bag.

Authorities shut down the area, including the seat in front of the airport, and eventually discovered the bag was filled with AN/FO, nails, and bullets. There was a timer with the bag that was set for 6am, when morning travelers would be checking in for their flights. Estes admitted that he was preparing to "fight a war on US soil".

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — A man who authorities say planted an explosive device that contained ammonium nitrate and fuel oil at a regional North Carolina airport Friday said he was preparing to "fight a war on U.S. soil," according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

The suspect, Michael Christopher Estes, is charged with attempted malicious use of explosive materials and unlawful possession of explosive materials in an airport.

During his first appearance in federal court Tuesday, he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. A federal judge assigned an attorney to Estes, fin ding that he is indigent.

www.usatoday.com...

www.citizen-times.com...

I thought that setup would require a blasting cap or better...

a reply to: Zaphod58

In a way I'm grateful the media chose not to report this. It further validates the fact that they are grossly biased and completely unreliable.

The media is down in the dirt with lawyers, most congressmen and senators, and car salesmen.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

"Estes described how he created the device using ammonium nitrate and the Sterno as a fuel source and then rigged the alarm clock to strike the matches and cause the flame necessary to trigger the device," the complaint states. "Estes admitted to putting the nails in the device as well." Estes claimed that he did not actually set the alarm clock, though.

Look out, we got a MacGuyver over here!

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

ANFO actually needs a primer to detonate. It's really stable, which is why it is so popular to use as a blasting agent, and isn't considered a high or low explosive. This setup might not have actually detonated in the end, but then again, it might have, and could have resulted in being pretty bad.

Isn't he the guy that turned himself in?

I'll go look for the article I read but I think it's the same situation.

a reply to: Butterfinger





I'm surprised they went into such detail describing its design because it doesnt sound like an actual functional device. If it were meant to go of itd just have some plain old powder in there. Instead it was like some weekend warrior approach to sinister virtue signalling all like 'hey I know I'll go hit a few dept stores, fiddle some junk into a backpack and drop it off at the airport and get on TV'.

I'd say no wonder the MSM hasn't run wild with the story, especially with that shaved head of his, except for it sounds staged to me so they should be all over it!

a reply to: Zaphod58

Interesting that the media, in their infinite wisdom, reported nothing on this save locally/regionally...

Not enough blood by the looks of it. I mean, you can't have security doing their jobs efficiently, or the cops finding and arresting... How disappointing it must be for some in the media business.

Kudos to all involved. Doing their jobs. This happens much more often than we know, I'd wager.

a reply to: Zaphod58

His device sounds pretty iffy:

Court documents say authorities found the improvised explosive device around 7 a.m. Friday at Asheville Regional Airport. It contained ammonium nitrate and Sterno fuel, along with steel wool that was then wrapped around nails and a .410 gauge Winchester shotgun cartridge, the complaint says. An alarm clock was taped to the outside of the jar with matches attached to the arm that strikes the bells, according to court documents. The alarm had been set for Friday at 6, the complaint says.

CBS news

I say iffy, because detonating anfo with a shotgun shell would probably not work. The means of detonating the shotgun shell is less than reliable also... matches.

a reply to: butcherguy

ANFO is one of those funny explosives that is really easy to work with, and not hard to get to go off, if you have a clue. But because it's so common in the various attacks it's been used in, people think that it's really easy to make and detonate. But at the same time, it doesn't want to detonate, which is why it's not considered an actual explosive.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
I thought that setup would require a blasting cap or better...

That was my first reaction. Detonating that charge requires a booster, initiated by a blasting cap. They didn't specify.

Maybe they are hiding that info, maybe it was missing components. Anyone can secure the listed ingredients to make that kind of explosive 'device' but the initiator (blasting cap) and booster (stick of dynamite) is not that readily available.

Wow. A little too close to home for me. The most disturbing part of this, for me, is not that he put together an explosive device and placed it at the Asheville airport, but that USA Today described exactly how it was built, and with what, and how ammonium nitrate needs to be congealed into globules in order to absorb the fuel oil.

Alrighty then.

Thanks for the story, I wouldn't have known about it otherwise. I was just in Asheville not that long ago. Beautiful town, certainly NOT deserving of terrorism.

Where was he from?

We need to ban people from that country, #n terrorists.

Oh, wait...Just a white guy.



He doesn't sound like the brightest bulb in the store, and I'm just glad it didn't detonate.

he was preparing to "fight a war on U.S. soil," according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Against whom and for what? That's what I'd like to know.

Sounds like one of those 'oh look we stopped an attack that we set up to begin with' stunts.

Next they will be starting wildfires to do more damage than ever.

a reply to: Liquesence

Where was he from?

We need to ban people from that country, #n terrorists.

Oh, wait...Just a white guy.

A new category of terrorism, the "Indigent". They don't like the phrase "Domestic Terrorist", it implies he's an American.

Against whom and for what? That's what I'd like to know.

That should be obvious. He left it in an airport, as I understood, set to go off when the most Americans were around.

Explosives require heat, shock and friction to detonate. Two out of the 3 generally do it.

Rarely will one be enough, with the exception of really sensitive stuff like TATP.

I highly doubt Sterno would be enough for ANFO. ANFO usually requires some kind of booster in addition to a blasting cap.

I've made cap sensitive AN, but it requires an intensive and time consuming process.

Edit : Kind of reminds me of the "alleged time square bomber" That joker tried to detonate bags of fertilizer using firecrackers.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: Liquesence

Where was he from?

We need to ban people from that country, #n terrorists.

Oh, wait...Just a white guy.

A new category of terrorism, the "Indigent". They don't like the phrase "Domestic Terrorist", it implies he's an American.

Against whom and for what? That's what I'd like to know.

That should be obvious. He left it in an airport, as I understood, set to go off when the most Americans were around.

I don't know why they give them labels. Why not just bunch them together under #ing idiots?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: butcherguy

ANFO is one of those funny explosives that is really easy to work with, and not hard to get to go off, if you have a clue. But because it's so common in the various attacks it's been used in, people think that it's really easy to make and detonate. But at the same time, it doesn't want to detonate, which is why it's not considered an actual explosive.

I have a clue and it isn't that easy to set off, it requires a primary explosive for reliable detonation.
It is possible to detonate without using a primary explosive, but not the way he was doing it. If he had substituted a different metal that was powdered for the steel wool, he would have had a better chance of detonation of the anfo, but even then, I doubt that he would have been able to have generated the shock wave that he needed with a .410 shotshell.

a reply to: intrptr

A new category of terrorism, the "Indigent". They don't like the phrase "Domestic Terrorist", it implies he's an American.

Touché.

That should be obvious. He left it in an airport, as I understood, set to go off when the most Americans were around.

Obvious, yes. But I want to know his stated reason(s).