iStock/Thinkstock(BEAVER DAM, Wis.) — A Wisconsin man blew himself up inside his apartment, which was allegedly loaded with white supremacist literature, weapons, explosives and highly volatile chemicals.
Investigators say Benjamin Morrow, 28, was found lifeless underneath his electric kitchen stove inside his unit at Village Glen Apartments in Beaver Dam last month. They also pulled from the rubble white supremacist literature, long guns and pistols, ammo, a large capacity magazine, and explosives, according to an unsealed warrant according to a report in ABC News station WISN.
It’s alleged that Morrow also hoarded 13 medium-sized jars of traicetone triperoxide or “TATP explosive material” in in the fridge inside the kitchen, which the warrant claimed doubled as an “explosives laboratory,” according to Wisconsin crime investigator Kevin Heimerl’s warrant application.
The contents of Morrow’s unit were considered to be so “highly volatile” that officials decided to destroy the entire 16-unit structure in a controlled fire.
Morrow, who according to WISN was a food company quality control technician who had previously worked as an associate scientist at pharmaceutical company, appears to have had strong white supremacy leanings.
“Within his bedroom, literature has been found concerning white supremacy groups,” Heimerl wrote in the warrant citing what was found after probing Morrow’s laptop computer and electronic devices.
The March 5 explosion that killed Morrow coincidentally occurred at the same time when package bomber Mark Anthony Conditt was detonating devices and terrorizing Austin, Texas — before law enforcement caught up to Conditt and he committed suicide.
Despite the cache of weapons that included explosive targets and ballistic helmets and a vest, it remains unclear whether Morrow was hatching anything operational.
“At this point to link him to one thing or another would be speculative and conjecture,” Beaver Dam police Lt. Terrence Gebhardt told WISN.
The explosive compound Morrow was manufacturing, TATP, is nicknamed “Mother of Satan” and is made from easy-to-buy items that don’t necessarily merit attention from authorities.
Heimerl said in the warrant applicattion that he found other containers of TATP stored inside Morrow’s garage along with instructions found on the manufacture of homemade explosives.
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