WASHINGTON — Agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives are feuding over bomb investigations — racing each other to crime scenes, failing to share information and refusing to train together, according to a draft report obtained by The Associated Press.
The report says Justice Department bosses have repeatedly failed to fix the problem involving the two agencies that are part of their department.
The Justice Department’s Inspector General, Glenn Fine, has drafted a preliminary report on the two agencies’ repeated squabbles to claim jurisdiction in investigations of explosives incidents across the country.
The most recent documented spat came last December when the FBI protested a local prosecutor’s request to use the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to investigate a blast that killed a local bomb technician in Woodburn, Ore.
FBI and ATF supervisors “tend to deploy their employees to the larger, more sensational explosives incidents, sometimes racing each other to be the first federal agency on the scene and disputing upon arrival which agency should lead the investigation,” according to a draft version of the report.
“Such conflicts can delay investigations, undermine federal and local relationships, and may project to local agency responders a disjointed federal response to explosives incidents in their area,” the draft report found.
California: Fire nearly contained
The largest wildfire in Los Angeles County history is 91 percent contained and crews remain on track to have it surrounded by the weekend. A fire department spokesman said Tuesday that the nearly 251-square-mile fire northeast of Los Angeles hasn’t grown, but about 100 homes within its boundaries remain threatened. Crews expect to declare it fully contained Saturday night. The fire in the Angeles National Forest was caused by arson on Aug. 26. It destroyed 89 homes and caused the deaths of two firefighters whose truck plunged off a mountain road.
Maryland: Student with sword kills burglary suspect
A Johns Hopkins University student armed with a samurai sword killed a suspected burglar in a garage behind his off-campus home early Tuesday, hours after someone broke in and stole electronics. Police held the student, a junior chemistry major who turns 21 on Sunday, for several hours, but he was not charged with any crimes Tuesday, a police spokesman said. The intruder was identified by police as Donald D. Rice, 49, who had just been released from jail. Rice’s criminal history includes more than two dozen arrests for burglary, breaking and entering and auto theft. On Monday, two laptops and a Sony PlayStation were stolen from the student’s home, but police were not sure whether Rice was responsible, the spokesman said.
New York: Manson follower moving
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, the Charles Manson follower convicted in 1975 of pointing a gun at then-President Gerald Ford, is moving to upstate New York, local officials said Tuesday. District Attorney Scott McNamara said he was notified by state police that the 60-year-old Fromme was moving to Marcy following her release last month after serving 34 years in federal prison.
Florida: Student stabbed at school
One student stabbed another to death during a fight Tuesday in a courtyard at their Miami suburban high school, authorities said. School officials identified the victim as 17-year-old sophomore Juan Carlos Rivera. Police identified the attacker as 17-year-old Andy Jesus Rodriguez, who was taken into custody immediately after the stabbing at Coral Gables Senior High School. According to police, both teens were walking down a hallway Tuesday when they intentionally bumped into each other and began to fight.
Mexico: Attacks kill at least 16 in three border cities
Firefighters have found six bodies inside a burning car in Tijuana, and 10 people were killed in two separate shootings in another northern Mexican border town besieged by drug violence. The victims’ identities and the motive for killings were not released, but the Tijuana is on a major route for drugs heading north and has recently seen a wave of violence between warring gangs. The bodies were found Monday night. In Ciudad Juarez, gunmen opened fire inside a hardware store, killing the woman who owned the store and four other people, including a 19-year-old man, the regional attorney general’s office said. Minutes later, an armed gang killed five men riding in a pickup truck.
From Herald news services
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