US|Woman ‘Consumed’ by Columbine and Oklahoma City Killings Had 24 Pipe Bombs, Police Say
The authorities also discovered numerous guns, knives and material on mass killings in the Florida home of Michelle Kolts, officials said.
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A Florida woman obsessed with the Columbine High School massacre and the Oklahoma City bombing was arrested after her parents discovered two dozen pipe bombs in her bedroom, the authorities said on Friday.
The woman, Michelle Kolts, 27, was charged with 24 counts of making a destructive device with intent to harm, Chad Chronister, the sheriff of Hillsborough County,said at a news conference.
Ms. Kolts had been on the radar of the authorities for more than a year, Sheriff Chronister said.
A printing company had contacted his department in 2018 because Ms. Kolts had ordered “several” manifestoes and “anarchist instructions,” the sheriff said, adding, “She became consumed with the Columbine and Oklahoma killings.”
In 1995, a homemade bombplanted outside a federal office building in Oklahoma Citykilled 168 people. The1999 Columbine shooting, in which two gunmen killed 13 and wounded 21 in Littleton, Colo., has “infatuated”some young people and prompted copycat shootings across the country.
“While checking Michelle’s bedroom, her parents found what appeared to be a significant amount of pipe bombs, other bomb-making materials and numerous weapons, ”Sheriff Chronister said. Her parents, who were in the military, called the authorities on Thursday, he said.
When the police arrived, they evacuated the home, in Wimauma, Fla. , about 30 miles south of Tampa, and called the bomb squad.
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The police discovered 24 pipe bombs, smokeless pistol powder, fuse material, 23 different knives, two hatchets, two BB-pellet-type rifles, six BB-pellet-type handguns and dozens of books and DVDs about murder, mass killing, domestic terrorism and bomb making, Sheriff Chronister said .
“The amount of highly destructive materials we found in this home were astonishing,” he said, adding, “If used, these bombs could have caused catastrophic damage and harm to hundreds, even thousands of people. ”
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The police found Ms. Kolts at her job, he said.Arrest recordslisted her occupation as laborer, but no additional details were available. Ms. Ms. Kolts admitted to detectives that she made the devices and had planned to use them, though it was unclear how, the sheriff said.
Ms. Kolts was being held with bail set at $ 180, 000. Records showed no lawyer listed for her and attempts to reach her parents on Saturday were unsuccessful.
“Who knows the amount of harm that could have been done, or how many lives could have been lost, had these parents not found the courage to call the sheriff’s office and seek help, ”Sheriff Chronister said.
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