Published on Aspen Daily News Online (
http://www.aspendailynews.com)
Bomb threats shut down Aspen
Writer:
Andrew Travers
Byline:
Aspen Daily News Staff Writer
The 2009 New Year fell on Aspen under a pall of unease and fear, as suspicious packages and threats struck downtown Wednesday afternoon.
As the clock struck midnight, 16 blocks in the commercial core were shut down — and the restaurants, businesses, hotels and homes therein evacuated — as federal authorities and a bomb team from Grand Junction investigated three scenes where packages suspected to be bombs were left.
Police have identified one suspect, Jim Blanning, 71, a former Aspenite who served a prison term for selling fraudulent mining claims here.
Authorities had been camped out near the intersection of Galena and Hopkins since the late afternoon, deploying a robot on a group of packages left there in an alley behind the Gap building. The packages included some wrapped up like Christmas gifts, a plastic file container and what appeared to be pizza boxes.
An explosion near the area went off shortly before 10 p.m.
A second explosion in the same area went off shortly after 1 a.m. A late-night worker in the area said the explosion took place in or near the south end of the small parking lot east of the Gap, and across the alley from the historic Elks building. A third explosion was heard shortly after 3:30 a.m.
After the first explosion, Aspen Police Chief Richard Pryor did not confirm that a bomb had been detonated there, but said the explosion people heard was a result of the Grand Junction Bomb Squad investigation.
The incident began when authorities received a phone call from Wells Fargo Bank on Mill Street around 2:30 p.m., reporting that they had received a suspicious package with a threatening note. Shortly thereafter they got an identical report from Vectra Bank, just a few blocks away on Hyman and Hunter.
Surveillance footage of the man who left the package at Vectra, believed to be Blanning, was captured at 2:37 p.m.
Police dispatched a mandatory evacuation by reverse 911 to all businesses and residences within a two-block radius of both banks shortly thereafter.
The evacuations spread in the following hours. At press time, most of the Aspen commercial core was still blocked off, including almost all of the area from Main Street to Cooper Avenue, and Aspen Street to Original Street.
Authorities confirmed that packages were found at the two banks and in the alley behind the Gap, but did not say how many actual bombs were detected. Chief Pryor said that the contents of the packages constituted a “credible threat to the people of the Aspen community†and that they expanded their evacuation orders after they inspected those contents.
Rumors abounded amid the throngs of New Year’s Eve celebrants as to the scope and nature of the threats. Word in some circles said the notes given to the banks made demands including money. Others rumors circulating said there were as many as five bombs in the packages, and that an additional threat of a midnight attack on a bar was reported to police.
Evacuees were sent to the Rio Grande Meeting Room originally, and a Red Cross overnight shelter was later established at the Skier Dome at Aspen High School. Residents evacuated from Ute Avenue were sent to the Aspen Club.
Chief Pryor said he expected town to remain shut down through much of the night, but said opening up completely sometime Thursday was “fairly likely.â€
The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the Aspen Police Department in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The federal department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is also investigating, with additional support from the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office and fire and police departments throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.
City and Pitkin County employees were called to duty to assist with keeping citizens out of blocked-off areas. Fire trucks, police cars, buses from the Roaring Fork Transit Authority along with plows and loaders from the Streets Department were used to block traffic in the threatened areas throughout town.
New Year’s Eve firework displays scheduled for 8:30 p.m. and midnight were both canceled. A bonfire and DJ performance in Wagner Park started Wednesday evening as planned, but was broken up before midnight and revelers were told to evacuate the area.
Aspen police are asking anyone who knows of Blanning’s whereabouts, or who saw anything they believe may be related to yesterday’s threats, to contact them at 970-429-1830.
