Explosive Device Found, Investigation Leads To Arrest Of Horseheads Man

[TTL News 308]

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HORSEHEADS- Hanover Square, in the heart of the Village of Horseheads, was blocked off for several hours this morning as New York State Police searched a home for reported “hazardous materials.”

According to New York State Police, on November 6th, a Town of Veteran Highway Department employee found what was believed to be an explosive device on Merka Road in the town. New York State Police and the local FBI responded, recovered the device and rendered it safe. 

An investigation was launched, including interviews with people in the neighborhood as well as companies across the Unites States. As a result of this week long investigation, on Saturday police arrested 43 year old Michael P. Hilliard of Horseheads. Hilliard was charged with 1st Degree Criminal Possession of a Weapon and was remanded to Chemung County Jail. 

 

Read the rest here.

[Chris 2,176]

So now that they have the place cleaned up, I wonder if we're going to hear anything more about this. Like, what did he have in there? What was he planning to do with all that material? Where was he going with the U-Haul?

NYSP are generally pretty tight lipped, and the feds even more so I'd suspect. I wonder if this is going to be one of those things that just fades from memory?

 

[Chris 2,176]

Ask and you shall receive I guess:

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HORSEHEADS – At a press conference held earlier this morning, New York State Police offered more insight into the investigation that led to the arrest of a Horseheads man over the weekend. 

According to New York State Police Troop E Major Micklos Szoczei on November 6, a radio controlled improvised explosive device was found by a Town of Veteran employee and reported to police. The device was built in such a way as to be controlled from an approximate distance of six thousand feet. An investigation began including interviews with multiple witnesses and search warrants, which led to the identification of a suspect, 43 year old Michael P. Hilliard 

On Saturday November 11, New York State Police who were conducting surveillance witnessed Hilliard leave his residence with several items and get into a small U-Haul van. Hilliard then drove north on State Route 13. As a precaution and with concern for public safety, police pulled him over in the Town of Newfield.

 

Read the rest here.

[LocalSportsGuy 43]

Thank god the police found this guy. If this went off, this could have been really bad. National Coverage level bad. 

[MsKreed 1,186]

1 hour ago, LocalSportsGuy said:

Thank god the police found this guy. If this went off, this could have been really bad. National Coverage level bad. 

I know people on Sandbank Road in Erin not far from the gravel pit where the explosives were detonated by officials.  The half dozen explosions that took place each represented about 15-20% of the total.....and shook houses to the degree of "rattling dishes" at quite a distance. 

Had it all gone off at once in that apartment, the damage would have certainly been significant well beyond the (lethal) perimeter that was blocked off from Franklin to Broad streets. 

I really hope the local media is able to stay on top of the story so we find out the details of his plan/intent, and it doesn't "disappear" from public record with a plea bargain. 

[KarenK 384]

1 hour ago, MsKreed said:

I know people on Sandbank Road in Erin not far from the gravel pit where the explosives were detonated by officials.  The half dozen explosions that took place each represented about 15-20% of the total.....and shook houses to the degree of "rattling dishes" at quite a distance. 

Had it all gone off at once in that apartment, the damage would have certainly been significant well beyond the (lethal) perimeter that was blocked off from Franklin to Broad streets. 

I really hope the local media is able to stay on top of the story so we find out the details of his plan/intent, and it doesn't "disappear" from public record with a plea bargain. 

And not one peep about it from anyone in Erin or Breesport that I'm aware of.  I did see people posting about the Horseheads explosions.

We are so used to the Tannerite they blow up around here that no one even pays attention anymore.  That in itself is concerning.

[MsKreed 1,186]

27 minutes ago, KarenK said:

We are so used to the Tannerite they blow up around here that no one even pays attention anymore.  That in itself is concerning.

So many rural folks being basically desensitized to “recreational” explosives a good point, that hadn’t occurred to me. Makes one wonder if the first explosion that started the investigation could have gone unreported if it had been an earlier time of day.

Quote

The investigation into Hilliard started after residents in the Town of Veteran reported the sound of at least one explosion around 11 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5. Police confirmed that a response was made to the area, but nothing was found during the search.

On Nov. 6, an explosive device was found by a town employee on Merka Road in Veteran. Police say the device could have been detonated from at least 6000ft away, and that it was the only device found on Merka Road.

 

Edited November 19, 2023 by MsKreed

[Chris 2,176]

35 minutes ago, MsKreed said:

So many rural folks being basically desensitized to “recreational” explosives a good point, that hadn’t occurred to me.

Nor I. And the truth is we’re so used to hearing explosions from tannerite, some of which have shaken pictures off of our walls, something serious could be happening and a lot of us probably wouldn’t even get out of our chair to investigate. 

[KarenK 384]

10 hours ago, Chris said:

Nor I. And the truth is we’re so used to hearing explosions from tannerite, some of which have shaken pictures off of our walls, something serious could be happening and a lot of us probably wouldn’t even get out of our chair to investigate. 

Not sure if you all saw this article.  Seems to have been pushed to the bottom of the news very quickly. This is the fella that called them in.  Local hunter speaks about hearing bombs in the Town of Veteran (mytwintiers.com)

[Chris 2,176]

Yeah he was commenting that day they raided the house about that.

This was one of those rare times when all the internet gossip and comments actually came together in a cohesive timeline. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that happen before.

[MsKreed 1,186]

I'd seen the 11-11:30 pm Sunday (5th) reports, but nothing about the Saturday afternoon. 

I'm around 10 miles from Merka and while the humans here didn't hear/feel anything on Saturday (4th)....my dog went into her trembling, panting, racing heart behavior that t-storms, nearby fireworks, guns etc cause.  I had a hard time even getting her to take her sedative treats. We figured there was possibly gunfire far off that we were tuning and was more faint for us that the pup. If she was feeling low wave from distant explosions reverberating, it would make sense. 

 

Further to that point, the Saturday social media post shows curiosity but not enough concern for anyone to call about it until it happened late at night. 

[Chris 2,176]

Thankfully this situation didn't end like the one in Arlington yesterday:

 

[KarenK 384]

video is blocked

[Chris 2,176]

2 minutes ago, KarenK said:

video is blocked

Friggin YouTube…

Alright you should be able to see it in the link provided.