 Media Credit: Matt Demczyk Members of the Columbus Bomb Squad prepare to enter a residence at the Fox & Hounds apartment complex yesterday.
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A potentially explosive situation at Fox & Hound apartments shut down the Kenny Road and Henderson Road intersection for most of yesterday as a swarm of city and federal officers rushed to investigate.
While running a routine apartment search after a fire at the apartment complex Monday night, Columbus Division of Fire officers discovered a cache of weapons, ammunition and chemicals in one apartment. After evacuating the residents of the building, 10 fire engines and more than a dozen police vehicles blockaded Henderson Road north of Kenny for approximately eight blocks, preventing residents from Fox & Hound and nearby apartment complexes from parking their vehicles.
Shane Helsel, 23, was arrested and charged yesterday with possession of a dangerous ordinance, a fifth degree misdemeanor. During the course of yesterday’s search, agents from the FBI, ATF and Columbus SWAT and bomb squads removed a shotgun, a hunting bow and several rifles from the apartment.
A federal Hazardous Materials team entered the apartment for the last time at approximately 7:20 p.m., after bomb squads had already removed chemicals including hydrogen peroxide, nitrous oxide, acetone peroxide and potassium cyanide within the apartment. Several of these chemicals are highly explosive when mixed, said Battalion Chief Mike Fultz.
“The profile is moving toward someone who knew what they were doing,” Fultz said, “This is beyond mere experimentation. The number of bomb-making chemicals that he has is in and of itself a considerable danger. However, each of these chemicals has a completely legitimate use.”
The suspect reportedly tried to transfer some of the more volatile chemicals to his pickup truck Monday night after realizing his apartment was in the path of the fire. The chemicals from the apartment and the truck are now in the possession of Proterra, a Columbus private company. Proterra is transporting the chemicals for analysis and destruction.
Although Helsel is in custody, authorities would not speculate on his intentions for the weapons and chemical stockpiles.
“We have contained the incident. Everything we were able to find appeared pretty well sealed,” Fultz said. “It didn’t look like anything was spilled or mixed. Those were the things we were worried about in terms of danger, because once you mix some of these, you get some really bad stuff.
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