Suspect In Would-Be Airport Bombing Nabbed With Help From REI

October 13, 20175:36 PM ET
CAMILA DOMONOSKE

Someone left a bomb at the Asheville Regional Airport. That much was clear. The question was, who?

The airport in Asheville, N.C., serves tens of thousands of people every month. According to an affidavit, federal marshals called the FBI on Oct. 6 to report the presence of an improvised explosive device.

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They also found a brand-new backpack in the woods near the airport — REI's "Traverse 70" brand. Inside the bag were gloves, a fuel source, a roll of Gorilla Tape, and "what appeared to be an alarm clock bell," Agent James Anderson writes, "consistent with the bell missing from the clock" in the bomb. Plus there was a spoon — gray, polymer.

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Then they found an REI, an outdoor goods store, in Asheville where a man had recently purchased a new backpack. A Traverse 70. He also bought a spoon — gray, polymer.

There was no video footage this time. And again, the man paid cash. But, Anderson writes, "the individual ... used an REI membership number when paying."

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