Showing posts with label Paramedics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paramedics. Show all posts

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Bryan Berres for Tahlequah Bomb Scare at Propane Company

Posted by Steelangel

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Bryan Berres Under federal law supported by the National Rifle Association, the use of a firearm in a violent or drug-trafficking crime is punishable by a mandatory prison sentence of up to 20 years. A second conviction, if the firearm is a machine gun or is equipped with a silencer, brings life imprisonment without release. Violating firearms laws should lead to very real punishment for violent criminals, but the laws first must be enforced. Ineligible Persons The following classes of people are ineligible to possess, receive, ship, or transport firearms or ammunition: Those convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment for over one year, except state misdemeanors punishable by two years or less. Fugitives from justice. Unlawful users of certain depressant, narcotic, or stimulant drugs. Those adjudicated as mental defectives or incompetents or those committed to any mental institution. Illegal aliens. Citizens who have renounced their citizenship. Those persons dishonorably discharged from the Armed Forces. Persons less than 18 years of age for the purchase of a shotgun or rifle. Persons less than 21 years of age for the purchase of a firearm that is other than a shotgun or rifle. Persons subject to a court order that restrains such persons from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner. Persons convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
Bryan Berres 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - A Federal Grand Jury indicted a man Wednesday in the May bomb scare at a propane company that shut down US Highway 62 in Tahlequah.
Bryan Berres was arrested for possession of destructive devices and an unregistered firearm.
According to court documents, Berres walked up to Amerigas Propane Company in Tahlequah May 9, removed a backpack and asked for an ambulance.  When paramedics arrived, Berres surrendered a knife and said he had a registered .38 in the bag, which investigators later said was false.
Paramedics believed Berres was delusional at the time, according to the affidavit, and an employee at the propane company described him as catatonic.
Police were called and when officers arrived they asked Berres about the bag's other contents, which he said included a "flash bang," leads, squibs and electric matches.
Before he was transported to a hospital, Berres told police federal agents had been to his home and questioned him about the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Conn.
According to the affidavit of ATF Special Agent Ashley Stephens, Berres has been involved in the legal manufacturing of exploding targets, known as Tannerite, and has previously been in contact with various law enforcement agencies.  Each time he was found in compliance.
Tahlequah police called the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Bomb Squad, who were able to safely open the bag and seize its contents.  Inside they found a flash bang, black powder, a cannon fuse, wires, a .38 semi-automatic pistol and various ammunition.
Later while Berres was hospitalized, investigators asked him what he planned doing with the bag, and Berres said, "I'm going into the woods on 82 to get the government out of my body," according to Stephens' affidavit.
Berres was released from jail June 6 if he would seek medical or psychiatric treatment and participate in home detention.

Man arrested for explosives at AmeriGas

Posted by Steelangel

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TAHLEQUAH — Federal authorities took into custody Monday a man accused of possessing explosive materials at AmeriGas earlier this month.


Bryan Berres, 32, of Tahlequah, appeared in federal court Monday for his initial appearance on charges of possessing an unregistered firearm – specifically, a 1.5-second-delay flash-bang. He remains in custody of federal authorities, and is set to appear in court Thursday for a probable cause hearing.

According to a criminal complaint against Berres, the suspect is known by federal investigators to have an “extensive” knowledge of explosives, and has been involved in the legal manufacture of what has been described as exploding targets.

Berres also allegedly operates a website that includes the words “blow shit up legally” in its web address, and investigators said he uses the website to sell his exploding targets.

Court documents revealed Monday that Berres “has been contacted numerous times in the past” by authorities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol Bomb Squad, Tahlequah police, Fort Gibson police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – but was always found to be in compliance.

ATF investigators said an employee at AmeriGas Propane Company in Tahlequah noticed Berres walk up to the entrance and remove his backpack on May 9. Berres asked to use a phone to call his wife, and seemed “catatonic.” Berres then asked employees to call an ambulance to take him to a veterans hospital in Muskogee.

Paramedics arrived and were handed a knife by Berres, who asked to be taken to the hospital. He also told medics there was a firearm in his backpack.

Tahlequah police were called to the scene to secure the weapons, and medics told investigators they were concerned that Berres was “delusional.”

Berres told police about the firearm, but also said the backpack contained a flash-bang. The suspect allegedly told police that federal authorities had been to his home and photographed some items, and had questioned him in connection with a deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

Berres was transported to the veterans hospital in Muskogee and AmeriGas was evacuated. Authorities closed U.S. Highway 62 and evacuated homes and businesses in the vicinity of the propane company.

The ATF and OHP bomb squad responded and eventually discovered the flash-bang, two cans of black powder, a cannon fuse, a canister round, 36 electric matches with leg wires, about 60 feet of quick-match fuse, an unloaded semi-automatic pistol, two loaded magazines, two boxes containing 83 rounds of .38-caliber ammunition, and two bags containing 100 rounds each of assorted ammunition.

Bomb squad members rendered the explosive device safe and determined it had a live fusing system.

During an interview with members of the District 27 Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force, Berres allegedly said he was “going into the woods on 82 to get the government out of my body.”

He told authorities he had the flash-bang in his possession because he didn’t want to leave it home near children.

Investigators determined Berres had enough components in the backpack “readily available” to assemble a destructive device.

A check with the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record showed Berres had no items registered in his name, court documents indicate.

If convicted, Berres could face up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and up to a $250,000 fine.

  JOSH NEWTON

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