HELL ON WHEELS: A bomb-laden van found on a Brooklyn street
From the – You just cannot make this stuff up department. The hero of this story is a car thief. Upon discovery of the device he could have just walked away-he did not. He drove the vehicle to a safer location and called the police. Well now Mr. car thief I thank you for stepping up, I wish more Americans would. BTW sir, please find a new line of work.
Whatever the device(s) were built for he was not only going to target an ex, there were two devices. An indicator of multiple attacks.
We got lucky here folks, a save from a less than reputable member of society but a concerned citizen and a failure on the part of others. A van left on the streets unmoved for months and no one thought that was suspicious? No one reported it and those same, selfish but clueless a-holes risked the lives of their own friends and family.
Stay alert stay alive.
By LARRY CELONA and JOHN DOYLE, 5 July, 2008, The New York Post
A bomb-laden van found on a Brooklyn street by a car thief was wired to detonate by remote control, and had likely been sitting there for more than five months, sources said yesterday.
Investigators believe the homemade explosives found Thursday night in the Ford Econoline belonged to Yung Tang, 39, a Chinese national. He has been behind bars since he was caught Jan. 29 in Wallingford, Conn., with nearly identical bombs in his Mazda MPV minivan.
“Based on the manner in which the materials inside the van were constructed, it’s possibly linked to an individual in custody in Connecticut,” said one source.
Also found in the MPV were two silencers, four hollow-point bullets and two radio-controlled detonators.
Days after that arrest, the NYPD searched his Brooklyn house and found yet anther van – a Ford Explorer – full of similar explosive devices.
In May, Brooklyn prosecutors charged Tang with attempted murder for allegedly planting a bomb near the car of a commercial tenant he was trying to evict.
The victim lost his foot in the 2002 blast.
Sources said the homemade bombs inside the Econoline – made of Styrofoam cups, 10-ounce water bottles, cans of WD-40 and five-gallon jugs filled with gasoline – were rigged to go off via a remote car-door opener.
A thief who broke into the vehicle as it was parked on 53rd Street near Second Avenue saw the explosives, then drove the van from the mostly residential block to a remote location near the waterfront.
The thief, who has an arrest record, then phoned a cop he knew from a previous run-in with the law.
-That just amazed me, he could have walked away, he could have made an anonymous call, he did not, he called a person he trusted – a New York Policeman. He wanted to insure the device was never used. It is extremely doubtful he was an expert on munitions. He had no way to know if there was a secondary trigger designed to prevent the van from being moved. To be sure, he risked his own life to protect others. Even criminals are capable of extreme heroics.
The 53rd Street location is six blocks from the home of Tang’s estranged wife, whom he has threatened to kill, according to federal prosecutors.
Neighbors of Tang’s wife said she had sold the house last week.
“I’m scared,” said one resident. “I’m scared he’s going to come back.”
In papers filed in the Connecticut case, prosecutors said Tang’s wife has complained of physical abuse and threats – including one to hurl her out the window of a cruise ship while they were on vacation.
Tang’s lawyer, George Farkas, denied that there was a connection between his client and the van.
“My guy has been in jail,” said Farkas. “What that means, I don’t know. It makes an interesting news story, but I think he has the alibi of alibis.”
The car thief was not expected to be charged.
-Let’s hope not, punishing him would only serve to cause the next hero to consider just walking away.
