Aspen Is The Bomb For New Years

ADMIN

• January 02 2009
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James Blanning caught by a security camera.

A former resdient of Aspen, James Chester Blanning, 72, placed four bombs wrapped like Christmas presents in two Aspen banks and an alley on New Year’s Eve before shooting himself to death. Police were forced to close downtown Aspen to tens of thousands of party people - Fireworks were rescheduled for New Years Day.

According to the Associated Press:

Blanning walked into two Aspen banks about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday and left packages wrapped in holiday paper along with notes saying the boxes contained bombs, police said. The notes threatened “mass death,” demanded $60,000 cash and included criticisms of President George W. Bush, Assistant Aspen Police Chief Bill Linn said at a news conference.

Blanning’s notes said he was targeting four banks, police said, but only two — a Wells Fargo Bank and a nearby Vectra Bank — received the packages.

Later, police found two similar packages atop a black sled in a downtown alley. Linn said the bombs were dangerous, containing plastic bladders of gasoline, but he did not say how sophisticated they were.

“We believe the suspect abandoned his plan halfway through,” said Linn, who said Blanning’s notes didn’t name the other two banks he planned to target.