| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: WoT |
| Nashville Cops Find Ricin, Pipe Bombs in Search of Home |
| 2006-06-02 |
| Authorities said they found pipe bombs and a jar containing the potentially deadly poison ricin while searching a home in suburban Nashville. The ricin was found sealed in a baby food jar in a shed at the home of William Matthews, according to a joint statement Thursday from Nashville police, the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and health officials. Officials said the jar was sealed and they do not believe the neighborhood was threatened. Authorities first searched the shed Wednesday after receiving a tip from Matthews' estranged wife. They also found five gun silencers, a bowl containing ricin residue and bomb-making materials. Matthews, 55, began serving a nine-month jail sentence last week for violating orders of protection taken out by his wife while he was being treated for substance abuse. No charges had been filed Thursday night, but authorities said they were talking with the U.S. Attorney's office. It was not immediately known whether Matthews had a lawyer. Ricin is a poisonous protein that can be used as a biological weapon. As little as 500 micrograms of the protein, roughly the amount that fits on the head of a pin, is enough to kill an adult, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #8 Matthews was working in the city's drug court testing laboratory... Occupational hazard? Perhaps they should wear respirators in ye olde lab. Self-styled quality control expert, maybe? |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-06-02 19:57 |
| #7 Castor bean seeds, SW... they grow wild here in SoCal...we have to eradicate them as a non-native species, but they grow like f*&king weeds. IIUC it's not that hard to make |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-02 13:28 |
| #6 Wasn't there another terrorist imitator incident in Nashville a couple of years ago? Opryland parking lot car bomb or something like that? No Islamic or other group terrorist links - just your garden variety nut-job? Must be something about that music up there that drive people nuts. |
| Posted by: glenmore 2006-06-02 13:00 |
| #5 Ricin is not something you order from a catalog. From where did it come? You'd think even a cub reporter could pose that question. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-06-02 12:58 |
| #4 Creating ricin is the real substance abuse here... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-06-02 11:34 |
| #3 ...was being treated for substance abuse. Matthews was a longtime Metro Nashville employee who recently left his job working in the city's drug court testing laboratory... Occupational hazard? Perhaps they should wear respirators in ye olde lab. No sign of this reported on The Tennessean web site. |
| Posted by: psychohillbilly 2006-06-02 11:13 |
| #2 man I'm glad to see that we're sending a clear message to anyone that thinks they can have this crap in a back yard. No charges had been filed Thursday night, but authorities said they were talking with the U.S. Attorney's office. Hell yeah. To think that someone with drug problems and "violating orders of protection" issues could get and harbor this is frightening. Yeah, let's make sure he has a good lawyer. Meanwhile back at the ranch no one was threatened they say. BS! |
| Posted by: Jan 2006-06-02 05:27 |
| #1 Sounds like the lady saved her life - and others. Good for her. No doubt he'll have some bizarre reason for constructing pipe bombs and possessing ricin. "The drugs made me do it!", or some such. One lethal dose of ricin or one pipe bomb ought to be enough to straightjacket this moron for the remainder of his natural life. No pleas, please. |
| Posted by: Ulart Thomotch5445 2006-06-02 05:04 |