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FBI: Pizza man probably not alone
(CNN) -- The FBI said Monday the pizza deliveryman who robbed an Erie, Pennsylvania, bank with a bomb locked around his neck probably was not acting alone -- but it was unclear whether he was involved in the plot or was its victim. Brian Douglas Wells, 46, died August 28 when the bomb exploded shortly after police stopped him following the bank robbery. Investigators have found no evidence to support the scenario that Wells acted alone in carrying out the robbery, said FBI Special Agent Bob Rudge. "The evidence that was gathered thus far certainly indicates that that is the least likely scenario, and we have discounted that as a possibility," Rudge told a news conference. The two other scenarios are that Wells was either directly involved in the plot or was duped into participating, or that he was solely a victim, Rudge said. He said investigators were releasing more information in hopes of finding anyone even minimally involved. Rudge said authorities were still analyzing the detailed note found in Wells' possession that "provided him with the directions and instructions to commit the robbery." Those instructions included stops at a McDonald's drive-through sign and three wooded locations along local interstate highways to obtain additional information. Police also released sketches of two men -- one white and one black -- who witnesses saw running in traffic near one of the wooded locations on the afternoon of the robbery. Rudge said it was unknown whether the men had anything to do with the plot, but investigators want to talk to them because their actions were peculiar. The white man was seen running feverishly across a busy road, maneuvering through traffic to avoid being hit, he said. The black man, wearing a black backpack, black hat and sunglasses, was seen climbing over a concrete barrier separating traffic lanes. The bizarre set of events leading to Wells' death began August 28 when he made a pizza delivery to an address that turned out to be a remote radio tower. Rudge said investigators now believe that Wells did indeed travel to that address. An hour later a short distance away on the same street, he walked into the PNC Bank with a bomb attached to his neck by a locked metal collar and gave a note to bank employees demanding money. Rudge said Wells then went to a nearby McDonald's, where he retrieved additional instructions from a drive-through sign directing him to drive to the three other locations. Before he could follow the instructions, he was arrested by police in the parking lot of an optical store, handcuffed, and made to wait for a bomb squad. Wells told police he had been forced to rob the bank and pleaded with them to remove the device from around his neck. It went off before bomb technicians arrived, killing him. Authorities hope the new details will stir witnesses' memories of anyone they saw around the sites listed in the note in the days or hours preceding the robbery. Hundreds of leads already have been called in and teams of FBI, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Pennsylvania State Police are conducting interviews, he said.
Rudge made a plea for anyone who might be acquainted with the person who built the bomb, or anyone who might have been "minimally" involved in the incident, to come forward. "The situation may have gotten out of control, and things may not have gone as planned," Rudge said. "Right now, their best ally is law enforcement." Since the incident, authorities have searched for materials consistent with the unique metal collar. The FBI also revealed last week that a weapon shaped like a cane was found in Wells' car.
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