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Bomb experts say materials at Tampa Palms murder scene were meant to kill

 
Authorities search a vehicle late Sunday in Key Largo after arresting Brandon Russell of Tampa, who is not pictured. Russell faces federal explosives charges after Tampa police investigating a double homicide found bomb materials in his Tampa Palms apartment. [Photo courtesy of Kevin Wadlow, FlKeysNews.com]
Authorities search a vehicle late Sunday in Key Largo after arresting Brandon Russell of Tampa, who is not pictured. Russell faces federal explosives charges after Tampa police investigating a double homicide found bomb materials in his Tampa Palms apartment. [Photo courtesy of Kevin Wadlow, FlKeysNews.com]
Published May 23, 2017

TAMPA — Easily obtainable chemicals and equipment that investigators found at the scene of a double murder in Tampa Palms were assembled for one purpose, according to explosives experts: To create an improvised explosive device that could kill people and destroy property.

There were enough explosive materials found to blow up a car, or more, according to Anthony May, a retired Army bomb squad member who now runs Arizona-based ALM Security and Explosives Consultant LLC.

The materials "could do significant damage," May said.

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Investigators found two men slain when they arrived Friday at a Tampa Palms apartment shared by four men.

A search of the apartment area turned up an explosive known as HMTD, along with explosive components including potassium chlorate, potassium nitrate, nitro methane, hexamine and citric acid and one pound of ammonium nitrate — commonly used in terror attacks around the world including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Federal investigators say Brandon Russell, a private first class with the Florida National Guard and a self-professed neo-Nazi, had gathered the materials.

Russell told investigators he was using the materials to boost homemade rockets and send balloons into the atmosphere for testing, according to a federal complaint. Investigators, as well as explosives expert May, discounted the explanation.

Combined, the materials could be used to construct blasting caps to detonate the ammonium nitrate, said May and Craig Gundry, vice president for special projects for Critical Intervention Services of Largo.

Whoever assembled the materials "was planning on making an improvised explosive device for sure," said Gundry, an Army veteran with experience working on explosive devices.

The chemicals found in the apartment are easily obtainable and legal for an individual to purchase, May said. It's when they are combined into a bomb that they become illegal.

Investigators also found radiation sources including thorium and americium in the apartment, according to the criminal complaint, but no other details about them were available .

Contact Howard Altman at haltman@tampabay.com or (813) 225-3112. Follow @haltman.