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High Exposure

VBIED Last Night in Allentown - Multiple Fatalities

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Not a whole lot out there on this, but I am eager to learn more, and cautious not to jump to conclusions.

NOTE: Link left cold so as not to draw flies

http://www DOT mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-nws-car-explosion-20180929-story.html

Allentown car explosion: Multiple fatalities reported, police say

A single-car explosion in Allentown Saturday night resulted in multiple fatalities, police said. The explosion happened around 9:30 p.m. on Turner Street between Seventh and Eighth Streets. Officials have not released details of what caused the explosion.

Jon Harris, Kayla DwyerOf The Morning Call
 

A car exploded on Turner Street in center city Allentown Saturday night, killing multiple people, Allentown police said.

Assistant Chief Gail Struss said authorities do not know how many died.

The fiery explosion happened around 9:30 p.m. on the block between Seventh and Eighth streets. Along with city police, investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene. Around midnight, a team of investigators worked around the burnt skeleton of the car.

The explosion reverberated beyond the block. It shook The Morning Call building, which is about a block and a half from the scene. A man said he felt the jolt half a mile away on Fourth and Gordon streets.

 
Raw video: Aftermath of Allentown car explosion

This video (which has been edited) shows the immediate aftermath of a car explosion on Turner Street on Saturday night Sept. 29, 2018. The original clip was widely circulated on social media.

And on Facebook, people from other parts of the Allentown and even outside the city’s borders said they heard or felt the boom.

Carlos Perodin, who lives at Sixth and Turner streets, was watching a movie with his wife when he heard the thunderous sound. He could see the blaze and went to the scene.

“The fire was crazy,” he said. “The car was pretty much split in half.”

Stephanie Connley of Allentown ran out of a corner store on Seventh Street to see what happened. She said she saw smoke and carnage around the car that had exploded.

“Fire everywhere,” she said.

PICTURES: Car explosion in Center City Allentown

PHOTO GALLERY: A car explosion in Allentown on Turner Street resulted in multiple fatalities Saturday night, Sept. 29, 2018, according to Allentown police.

(Rich Rolen / Special to The Morning Call)
Allentown car explosion
The scene of the car explosion on Turner Street. (Rich Rolen / Special to The Morning Call)

Struss said people should avoid the area. She said anyone who lives on Seventh and Eighth streets between Linden and Chew streets should shelter in place. She said police make that request in these cases because of the possibility of secondary explosions.

Through the night, the scene was crowded with emergency crews and investigators including Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim, the Allentown Fire Department Bomb Squad and city paramedics.

A UGI truck was on the scene, though a worker said it was a precautionary measure.

After midnight, the block remained filled with emergency vehicles.

Police have provided no details, as they try to determine what happened.

Residents are curious to know, too. Many crowded around the police tape, talking to one another and speculating as bright siren lights and the barking of K-9 units filled the night air.

Neighborhood kids idled on their bikes, talking to officers who controlled the scene and lowered the tape as emergency responders came and went.

This story will be updated as more information comes to light.

Car explosion scene
Police examine the scene of the car explosion Saturday night as bystanders look on. (Rich Rolen / Special to The Morning Call)
Car explosion
Debris from the car explosion was strewn throughout the street. (Rich Rolen / Special to The Morning Call)
 
Tweet I found elsewhere that shows video of a mangled Caucasian hand in the street and a pretty big debris field.

Allentown car explosion (NOT for faint of heart). #carexplosion #Allentown\uD83D\uDE14\uD83D\uDE14 pic.twitter.com/L9d0XtOCJp

jessica jessica (@TripptheTripp) September 30, 2018
 

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Looking at photos, one car was practically vaporized. Nearby cars are in relatively good shape compared to how bad the subject vehicle is in. This tells me that the explosion went more vertical, not horizontal. That is not exactly what you want to cause the most damage/carnage to pedestrians or nearby buildings.

Also, that residential neighborhood doesn't look like a target rich environment for a planned terrorist event. Not a downtown area with shops and clubs and restaurants crowded with people on a Saturday night.

Could be a mobile or car based meth lab that went boom accidentally.

Could be a targeted event, some kind of gang hit or retaliation.

Could be a premature detonation of an explosive that was to be used elsewhere in an attack.

Could be a legit terror attack.

Watching this with interest.

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9 minutes ago, High Exposure said:

Could be a mobile or car based meth lab that went boom accidentally.

Could be a targeted event, some kind of gang hit or retaliation.

Could be a premature detonation of an explosive that was to be used elsewhere in an attack.

Could be a legit terror attack.

Watching this with interest.

I was thinking mobile meth lab. Could a NOS leak do this?

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7 minutes ago, voyager9 said:

I was thinking mobile meth lab. Could a NOS leak do this?

It would be hard to say, chances are if the blast went more vertical it could have originated in the trunk. 

A NOS tank exploding would probably look like this though. While a meth lab exlposion could have some serious force, it's hard to imagine that kind of Carnage to a car from chemical vapors.

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I'm pretty sure that meth lab explosions are just from propane, solvents, etc. coming into contact with a flame.  These explosions aren't as powerful as the photos.  This looks like a detonating explosive - something not so easy to find.

If it really is a car, I'm leaning toward intentional explosive by someone with some knowledge of how to do this and access to stuff you and I can't get.

If it turns out to be a van or truck, I'm leaning toward a leaking acetylene tank.

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3 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

explosion went vertical mostly, 'cause that's the path of least resistance in the average car. 

I’m gonna disagree. I’ve been through quite a few classes on home made explosives and bomb making (Was just at one on 9/17) where we actually detonate different explosives in different areas of a car such as the trunk, or the engine compartment, the undercarriage, or the interior.

I have notes that in big explosions - like 500lbs of ANFO, or 40lbs of C4 substitute - the engine block typically pushes the explosion horizontally to the rear and the engine and transmission go horizontally to the front.

This almost makes me want to say the explosive was not in the car but under it. Again, that’s just a cursory observation based on a vague news report and crappy scene photos/videos.

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I wonder how much TATP it would take to cause that much destruction?  Because that is an explosive any idiot thinks they can make at home, and it's got a well-deserved reputation for going off when it isn't supposed to, like while awaiting transport to someplace else.

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TATP is a primary explosive and is pretty unstable. You don’t see many large bombs made of primarily TATP because of this. 

TATP is usually created and used in small amounts to start an explosive train where it will detonate secondary explosives like ANFO or other explosives that need a booster or primary explosive in order to function properly and not just deflagrate.

Not to say it can’t happen, but it would be unusual in an already unusual situation.

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Forensic trace will take a while.  Abby Schutto from NCIS isn't working the case, so it will take more than an hour to arrest the bad guys.  The more they know the faster they know it, the quicker the tape comes down.  In the meantime, the scene is held in-place while they scour the area looking for trace, a detonator, anything.  And they use an eye dropper to find pieces of who was in the car & then run a deep search.  

If this was a Hit, whomever did it wanted the big splash in the evening news.  Philly families generally don't want this much publicity, so...

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Wow.. talk about vaporizing a car...

..."Contrary to reports from sources, officials say that no victim was a passerby.

Grim said the autopsies were completed Monday morning and all three died from traumatic injuries.

Grim said that this "is an isolated incident" but they are "not prepared" to say what the cause of the explosion was yet."

So, they won't say what was used or an other details.... hmmmmm.

http://www.wfmz.com/news/lehigh-valley/coroner-ids-3-killed-in-allentown-car-explosion/801804688

 

car.jpg

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5 minutes ago, High Exposure said:

Why is that a Hmmmmm?

It is an ongoing investigation. They shouldn’t give details yet.

WERD!

They may release some things & not others.  They may not want to tip their hand if they think a suspect may get wind that they're onto him / them.  They may have found a "signature" that they don't wish to make public.  There's a thousand reasons why info & intel aren't shared UNTIL they think (at worst) it won't hurt the investigation OR they're looking for a response from a "person of interest".  Or maybe it was "just an accident" since a 2 yr old is a casualty since mobile meth labs usually don't have 2 yr olds in them (I would assume)?

Our digital society thinks crimes are solved in a one to two hour time frame like on TV shows :) 

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2 hours ago, High Exposure said:

Why is that a Hmmmmm?

It is an ongoing investigation. They shouldn’t give details yet.

Did I say they should release ALL the details of the investigation? Duh...

At this point, they would have a pretty good idea what caused the explosion. That is usually revealed or speculated in the early hours. Obviously, there is more to the story then it being a fuel leak or something similar...

On 9/30/2018 at 10:28 AM, High Exposure said:

Could be a mobile or car based meth lab that went boom accidentally.

Could be a targeted event, some kind of gang hit or retaliation.

Could be a premature detonation of an explosive that was to be used elsewhere in an attack.

Could be a legit terror attack.

So, a day and a half later, are they still "guessing" like you are?

 

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Local DA says that the "perpetrator" was among the three killed. I'm going to go ahead and say it wasn't the 2 year old. I'm very curious as to what happened. That's a lot of damage. Rolling meth lab? The fact that they are saying one of the victims was the perp makes me think the explosion part was an accident but the person responsible was still doing something illegal.

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