Monday, June 18, 2012

UPDATE: Plano police say injured man had explosive device that damaged gas main

The FBI and Plano bomb squad are investigating an explosion early Monday in North Plano that seriously injured the man suspected of causing it.

Investigators believe the suspect was tampering with a gas main around 12:30 a.m. when a bomb he was carrying detonated, waking residents in the 3600 block of Parker Road.

“I heard the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life,” said Scott Precourt, who lives directly across from the gas regulator system. “Usually I would’ve gone out and looked, but I was afraid.”

An FBI spokeswoman had little to say about the bureau’s involvement, but Tom Crowley, spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said his agency handed over the investigation to the FBI to consider “potential terrorist aspects.”

After receiving several 911 calls, Plano police discovered the suspect with life-threatening upper-body injuries about a block away on Starlight Trail.

The unidentified man, described only as an Asian male in his late 20s to early 40s, was transported to the Medical Center of Plano, where he remained in critical condition.

The suspect claimed he was hit by a car while jogging, but investigators grew suspicious when they heard a hissing noise coming from the gas main.

Investigation revealed that someone had tampered with it, and a trail of blood led from the gas main to where the suspect was found.

“His injuries to his body are all on the front of his body,” police spokesman David Tilley said. “If you get hit by a car … you’re going to have something all over your body.”

Shrapnel marks on the fence behind the gas main led police to believe the suspect was carrying a bomb.

“We don’t know any of the whys,” Tilley said. “We don’t know why he was back there, what type of device he had. That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

Police shut down Parker Road between Independence Parkway and Coit Road Monday morning while they gathered evidence. The regulator system suffered only minor damage, Tilley said, and gas service was not interrupted.

Many residents of the area were jolted awake by the explosion, described as a “big deep-throated boom” by one of them.

Archie Oliver said the noise was so loud his wife thought something came through the roof. When he went outside to check, he met several neighbors also investigating.

“It always takes a tragedy for neighbors to come to know each other,” he said.

Dallas News

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