{"id":134,"date":"2010-05-07T16:20:00","date_gmt":"2010-05-07T20:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mbuchholz.com\/blog\/?p=134"},"modified":"2011-06-23T09:04:15","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T13:04:15","slug":"portsmouth-nh-bomb-scare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/134\/portsmouth-nh-bomb-scare","title":{"rendered":"Portsmouth, NH Bomb Scare"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated 20100507-16:00: <\/em>
\nOkay. So, here’s what actually happened on Thursday:<\/em><\/p>\n

Someone was eavesdropping on a passenger\u2019s phone conversation.\u00a0 Despite the fact that the entire conversation was in Swahili, the eavesdropper thought he heard the word, \u201cbomb.\u201d\u00a0 He then panicked and told the bus driver.\u00a0 The bus driver panicked, slammed on his brakes (in the middle of the road), jumped off the bus (leaving everyone else to fend for themselves), quickly ripped some panels off the side, disabled the engine, and then proceeded to run away screaming, \u201cGET AWAY! GET AWAY!!\u201d\u00a0 Witnesses to this decided it was an excellent time to panic as well, and proceeded to run in every direction, calling 9-1-1 on any phone they could get their hands on.\u00a0 Once it hit dispatch, all the cops panicked.\u00a0 They stuffed their arms full of weapons, and then drove as fast and dangerously as possible to the scene (only about a half-mile away).\u00a0 On-site, they quickly realized there was no time to ask questions, so they set up a barricade of a good half-dozen blocks, emptied nearly two-dozen buildings, and ordered everyone to stay on the bus.\u00a0 While all of this was going on, passengers on the bus were talking with family, friends, and police, and were continually assuring people that everyone on the bus was completely calm \u2013 albeit quite confused \u2013 and if anything, they were becoming more and more terrified by the response of the police alone.<\/p>\n

\"Sniper<\/a>

SWAT Team Aiming at Suspect by 100 Club<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/em><\/h5>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

After two hours, the passengers were finally allowed to exit.\u00a0 While no one on the bus knew what exactly was going on, they came off the bus on-by-one, hands in the air, guns aimed at every inch of their body, before being swarmed by the SWAT team, handcuffed, and dragged off for questioning.\u00a0 Now, two people wanted nothing to do with this and if anything had questions of their own.\u00a0 Naturally, they were immediately arrested, but not before a police officer decided to tase a 68 year-old man (that must have been one of the most intimidating walking canes he\u2019d ever seen).\u00a0 That man is still in jail, with a $200,000 bail* (the elderly are really quick on their feet\u2014HUGE flight risks). <\/em><\/span>
\n*NOTE: This statistic was later removed from the online news article–likely a typo.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Now, one passenger was far too scared to get off the bus.\u00a0 Visiting from Burundi, Africa, he was unable to understand a single word being said and decided to stay sheltered in the safety of the bus.\u00a0 Of course, a translator was finally contacted 9-hours later, and he simply said, \u201cOh, you aren\u2019t in trouble, and you won\u2019t be harmed.\u00a0 We just want you off the bus so we can inspect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, the man walked off the bus.<\/p>\n

\"SWAT<\/a>

Armored SWAT team vehicle poised at the bus<\/p><\/div>\n

Portsmouth Police Chief David Ferland later said: “I do not know the reasons why he was nervous with police.”<\/p>\n

Good point.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see if I can put myself in the man\u2019s shoes for a second\u2026 I\u2019m visiting a country where I can\u2019t speak a word of the local language.\u00a0 It\u2019s just another day and I\u2019m traveling on public transportation, when suddenly my bus comes to a screeching halt.\u00a0 I look up and see the driver\u2014screaming\u2014run off the bus, yank something out from the engine, and then\u2014arms flailing\u2014run away yelling at everyone he passes.\u00a0 Confused, everyone on the bus looks around helplessly, unsure of how to proceed now that their bus driver just deserted them mid-route.\u00a0 Suddenly, police officers, fire trucks, ambulances, SWAT teams, helicopters, snipers, canine units, and media start showing up on scene, while barricades are set-up to keep anyone from getting close to us.\u00a0 With all this attention, we are apparently not allowed to leave the vehicle until hours later.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Angry<\/a>

Those affected by the scare<\/p><\/div>\n

Eventually, my fellow passengers start walking off the bus.\u00a0 As they do, dozens of guns are pointed directly at them, and while their hands are raised in defeat, a SWAT team suddenly tackles them, throws them in handcuffs, and drags them away.\u00a0 I\u2019m horrified to see another person stand up and volunteer to walk off into the same time of treatment only seconds later.<\/em><\/p>\n

One-by-one everyone leaves the bus, and now I\u2019m left alone.\u00a0 After seeing sixteen passengers with whom I have shared my journey get swept away by some strange armed local militia, I decide I might be safer on the bus than off.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

While I\u2019m sitting there waiting for someone to tell me what is going on, an odd-looking robot drives up next to me, and a camera attachment follows my every step.\u00a0 After a few minutes, a smaller robot pops-off that one and then drives up to the door, and inserts some strange mechanical arm inside the bus.\u00a0 Meanwhile, another robot drills holes into the back of the bus.\u00a0 I am completely alone, it is pitch black, I cannot understand a word being said to me, and they can\u2019t understand a thing I say back.\u00a0 I have no idea what is happening or what my fate has in store for me. <\/em><\/p>\n

Chief Ferland: good point, I have no idea why the man would afraid in this situation.<\/p>\n

On a lighter note, I heard a new explanation every 30-minutes of what was happening yesterday.\u00a0 The benefit of having my camera in tow was that everyone thought I was press\u2014when I arrived on-site someone walked me all the way to the press area, and whenever I returned to it, people would move out of the way to give me a front row view.\u00a0 These people stood there for hours and anytime one of them got a “tip” about what was really<\/em> going on, word spread instantly.\u00a0 So without further delay, the \u2018official\u2019 scoops I heard throughout the day about who this man is (and no, I am not making these up):<\/p>\n

1.) A man wanted for murder in Massachusetts
\n2.) The Taliban (yes, all of them.)
\n3.) A man with a bomb
\n4.) A man with a single hostage
\n5.) A man with a gun
\n6.) A man with a blow-up doll that refused to ‘give it up’
\n7.) A drug-addict demanding drugs
\n8.) A mentally-unstable individual \/ person with Tourette’s
\n9.) Someone who suffered from Narcolepsy (this one drew, “ooooohs!” from the press because it explained why this was taking so long – they were simply waiting for him to fall asleep)<\/p>\n

\n
\"Bomb-Defusing<\/a>

A spare Greyhound bus wheeled in for testing with the bomb-defusing robot<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Like I said, I was commonly mistaken for press, so simply looking at a bystander led to them regurgitating every detail of their first-hand account all over me.\u00a0 They also had a lot of advice for the police it turns out; the most common solutions I was given to resolve the stand-off were:<\/p>\n

1) Blow up the bus.<\/strong> Yes, even though they had snipers on this man and were using thermo-imaging goggles to track every thing he did on that bus, the best solution was to detonate an explosive device in the middle of downtown to handle the situation.<\/p>\n

2) Shoot him.<\/strong> Most people were frustrated they couldn’t get into their hotel or to their car and they repeatedly assured me that there was no reason to keep wasting everyone’s time and that they should ‘take him out’ because, ‘clearly after X<\/em>-hours he isn’t going to come off the bus.’<\/p>\n

3) Offer him a hamburger. <\/strong> This solution was more rare, but highly recommended by the locals — apparently the last crisis in this town was resolved when they talked a man off a bridge with the line, “Come on buddy, let’s go get a hamburger.”<\/p>\n

Which brings me to\u2026.
\n
\nYou know you are in New Hampshire when\u2026<\/em>
\n\u2026crisis situations are resolved by simply mentioning the phrase \u201cDouble Quarter-Pounder with Cheese.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Suspect<\/a>

Suspect walks off the bus, hands in the air, around 8:40. Sorry about the bad quality but it was pitch black and I'm 500-feet from the bus to get this shot.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated 20100507-16:00: Okay. So, here’s what actually happened on Thursday: Someone was eavesdropping on a passenger\u2019s phone conversation.\u00a0 Despite the fact that the entire conversation was in Swahili, the eavesdropper thought he heard the word, \u201cbomb.\u201d\u00a0 He then panicked and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[442,278,440,479,441],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-event-photojournalism","tag-bomb-scares","tag-emergencies","tag-police","tag-portsmouth-nh","tag-swat"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3663,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions\/3663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mbuchholz.com\/photoblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}