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Rocket launcher recovered in alleged plot to attack Dayton VA

FBI Special Agent Michael Brooks confirmed that the agency is investigating a threat that was made to the Dayton VA Medical Center either late last night or early Monday morning.

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees FBI Special Agent Michael Brooks confirmed that the agency is investigating a threat that was made to the Dayton VA Medical Center either late last night or early Monday morning.

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Two people are in custody and two local bomb squads have been called to an apartment at 6337 Springboro Pk. in Miami Twp. after an investigation by the authorities at the Dayton Veterans Administration Hospital learned of a plot to shoot people there. A rocket launch tube was found in a dumpster at the address according to Miami Twp. Deputy Police Chief John DiPietro.

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees Two people are in custody and two local bomb squads have been called to an apartment at 6337 Springboro Pk. in Miami Twp. after an investigation by the authorities at the Dayton Veterans Administration Hospital learned of a plot to shoot people there. A rocket launch tube was found in a dumpster at the address according to Miami Twp. Deputy Police Chief John DiPietro.

By Kristin McAllister and Tom Beyerlein
Staff Writer Updated 11:41 PM Monday, October 25, 2010

MIAMI TWP., Montgomery County — Two men were being questioned after federal agents and local officers learned the men planned “to show up at the VA Center and basically shoot a bunch of people up,” police said Monday.

Federal agents found a rocket launcher and other weapons at the Miami Bluffs apartment Monday, according to Miami Twp. Deputy Police Chief John DiPietro.

The two men were not immediately identified. A Veterans Affairs spokeswoman refused to comment, citing privacy regulations and the ongoing investigation.

FBI Special Agent Michael Brooks confirmed that the agency is investigating a threat made to the Dayton VA Medical Center either late Sunday night or early Monday morning, but he would not say how the threat was made.

Deputy Police Chief Maj. John DiPietro said the men had received services from the Dayton VA Medical Center.

“I understand them to be American citizens who were also veterans of one of the wars,” he said.

The guns and ammo were recovered from an apartment at the Miami Bluffs complex at 6337 Springboro Pike after the tenant, one of the men being questioned, consented to a search, DiPietro said.

DiPietro said he doesn’t know the address of the other man.

A neighbor, James Herbert, said he found the unloaded rocket launcher in a garbage bin when he was taking out his trash Monday morning. He said he climbed into the bin and recovered the launcher.

“I went out this morning to throw my trash out, and I found a rocket launcher, a military rocket launcher,” Herbert said. “About the time I was going to call the police, the FBI showed up. I thought, ‘This is not good.’ ”

Herbert said he overheard officers at the scene say, “They said he threatened the VA because he wasn’t getting what he thought he should be getting.”

The rocket launcher, green with “U.S. Army” written on it, was not loaded.

“This guy was armed to the teeth,” Herbert said.

Staff writer Kelli Wynn contributed to this article.

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