Neo-Nazi planned attacks

FLORIDA MAN ARRESTED AFTER KILLER’S WARNING

A self-proclaimed neo-Nazi arrested after agents found bomb-making materials in his Florida apartment while investigating the slayings of his two roommates planned to use the explosives to harm civilians, nuclear facilities and synagogues, federal prosecutors said.

The prosecutors made the allegations in court documents on Monday, a day before a judge set a $200,000 bond and conditions for the release of Brandon Russell, 21. They want to keep Russell in jail before his trial, arguing that he poses a threat to the public after a third roommate arrested in the killings at their apartment in Tampa told authorities Russell was targeting the sites.

The murder suspect, Russell’s roommate Devon Arthurs, was arrested last month after telling police he fatally shot Jeremy Himmelman, 22, and Andrew Oneschuk, 18, because they were neo-Nazis who disrespected his recent conversion to Islam. Arthurs said he had also been part of a neo-Nazi group started by Russell called Atom waffen until he converted to Islam.

When police took Arthurs to the apartment to check out his story, they found Russell outside the door crying. A member of the Florida National Guard, Russell was dressed in full military uniform and had just returned from duty.

Inside officers found the bodies of Himmelman and Oneschuk. Arthurs told police that Russell, who kept a framed picture of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh on his dresser, was not involved in the shootings, but that he was planning a bombing.

Agents say that inside the apartment and its garage, they found HMTD, a highly volatile explosive, as well as other materials used to make explosives, including ammonium nitrate, which federal prosecutors say is a blasting agent. They also found empty shell casings with fuses and electric matches, which could be used for detonation, and a written recipe for explosives.

Russell admitted to making the HMTD, but claimed he had been a member of a college engineering club and that the substance was for “setting off model rockets and balloons,” the documents stated. Agents said they found nothing related to rockets in the apartment.

On May 20, after speaking with authorities, Russell said he wanted to leave town and visit his father in Palm Beach and left the Tampa area while an arrest warrant was being prepared. Contacted by law enforcement, his family said they hadn’t heard from him.