TMCNet: Bombmaking materials found; man arrested on weapons charge

[August 09, 2012]

Bombmaking materials found; man arrested on weapons charge

Aug 09, 2012 (The Buffalo News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Federal and local police agencies remained at an Amherst duplex overnight after finding weapons and suspected bombmaking materials in an apartment.

Duncan Badding of 66 Williamsburg Square has been charged with criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree and reckless endangerment, first degree.

Officers were called to one of the units at 66 Williamsburg Square about 6 p.m. Wednesday, for a report of a man shooting a rifle at bottles in his backyard, Amherst Assistant Police Chief Charles Cohen said.

Police encountered Badding, who agreed to allow officers inside his residence, where more guns were discovered, along with "suspicious homemade explosives," Cohen said.

At that point, federal agents and bomb specialists were called to the scene, which is near Wehrle Drive and South Forest Road.

Francis J. Christiano, head of the Buffalo office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was among them. He said his agency and the FBI came at the request of Amherst police.

The Erie County Sheriff's Bomb Squad and a bomb detecting robot arrived about 10:40 p.m.

Dozens of FBI, ATF and Homeland Security agents, Amherst police officers, sheriff's deputies and firefighters remained at the scene after 11 p.m.

Neighbors also milled around the scene, and were kept about a block away by law enforcement authorities.

Some of residents, who asked that their names not be used, said some in the neighborhood -- a generally quiet, tree-lined community -- jokingly referred to the man taken into custody as the "Unabomber," because of some of the things he did at his property.

mgryta@buffnews.com ___ (c)2012 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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