FBI Posts Update on Pipe Bomb Investigation - Shoes ID'd

[Effete Snob]

I don't know if this has been posted already, but they put up this video and info yesterday:

https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/wfo-pipebomb-investigation-030921.mp4/view

They have identified the shoes:

"
This may include recently discarding or having stopped wearing the Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes. "





They aren't cheap.

[underpants]

1. Well timed with media coverage.

Those FBI people are pretty good.

[underpants]

10. Ok

Point taken

[Effete Snob]

20. I had seen it posted elsewhere

And when I saw the captioned date of "January 5, 2021" I thought it was yesterday, duh. I'm still in that phase of the year where I don't immediately think it is 2022.

Still, I didn't know they ID'd the shoes.

Oh well.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

30. They had ID'd the shoes almost immediately

Once they found the bomber on video last year, the first thing they posted about was the shoe style.

[Ellipsis]

47. yup.

[dem4decades]

2. Did they find their way to the Capitol the next day?

[MyOwnPeace]

4. Aw, man.......

I can just see some 'newbie' at the bureau sitting in some small room down the hall watching hours, and hours, and hours of videos from that day, blown up and super sharp (like they do on TV, right?) looking for that same shoe.

Some job, huh?

But seriously, THANK YOU to all of the PROFESSIONALS and witnesses that have put in the time and effort to root out these insurrectionists! YOU are the true patriots!

[dem4decades]

7. There's that group of online sleuths that have been finding a lot of this scum.

Finding that guy would be a nice feather in one's cap.

[MyOwnPeace]

12. With you on that!

That's why I did include 'witnesses' (SO many 'sleuths' doing such great stuff!) in my thanks. And thank you, they DO deserve even more thanks and gratitude.

[Kingofalldems]

28. Guy or woman.

[dem4decades]

29. That's why I'm not a good sleuth.

[Wicked Blue]

32. The Sedition Hunters

Someone mentioned them on NPR recently

[dem4decades]

33. Thank you

[Bev54]

50. They should be looking at members of congress instead of insurrectionists, perhaps

[boston bean]

9. They are mens I believe.

[Effete Snob]

19. There is what looks like a minor stumble in one of the videos

If someone was going to wear large shoes to obscure their foot size, you'd think they might get cheaper ones.

[leftstreet]

6. Won't the person who wore them now be tossing them?

[NewDayOranges]

13. Sure. But if this person attended the rally and riot

The next day, they might show up in one of the myriad of insurrection videos...

[underpants]

18. Cross referencing with pipe bombs.

I learned this back when Eric Rudolph targeted first responders and I worked in the industrial supply industry. Each batch of a given type of steel pipe has a specific HEAT number of their composition. Fragments from pipe bombs are “boiled down”. We’re talking 6 to 8 decimal points. Foundries know exactly which HEAT units are sent where. Pipe bombs are made with nipples (threaded on both ends) and caps. Track HEAT numbers to distribution and it narrows the search. Store videos are accessed.

If someone at a shoe store reports anything that is a good lead.

[Irish_Dem]

21. So we are looking for someone who stopped wearing them after 1/5?

[aeromanKC]

8. Cross reference all similar shoes purchased from the DC area (hopefully with a credit card)

FBI's coming for you MAGAt bomber!!

[onethatcares]

16. Is there any other way?

debit or credit card, Maybe Amazon had a deal the week before and they got free shipping.

[Rob H.]

11. That video's from last March

Still good to know, though.

[Effete Snob]

17. You know, I saw "January 5" and am still thinking "2021"

I had not seen the ID of the specific shoes.

[Rob H.]

31. The only reason I recognized it

was because I fell down this particular rabbit hole about a week ago. There was a body language expert on Twitter who gave his interpretation of the person in the security footage--he believes the bomber is a woman based on the person's stride and that whoever it is seems to be wearing shoes that are too large as if they're trying to camouflage their actual shoe size. I've seen more than a few people suggest it's MTG--there's a particular video that shows the suspect rounding a corner and they swing their left arm almost exactly the way she does when she's walking.

[Effete Snob]

46. People thought pink hat lady was Boebert's mom

Until pink hat lady was arrested.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214929814

[Irish_Dem]

22. I am seeing prices about $300. Is that correct?

[Effete Snob]

23. That's what I saw in a quick search too

I had a pair of the original Air Jordan white/black/red high tops back in 1985. The other day I wondered if they were still made in that style or if there was old new stock, just out of curiosity.

Good golly, I should have just bought some more of those shoes and kept them in boxes instead of paying into a retirement account.

[Irish_Dem]

24. Do regular people spend that kind of money on sport shoes?

Yes, I know we could have saved some of our everyday items and made a fortune by now.

[PTWB]

39. Yes, lots of people do.

There is a small but vibrant community of sneaker aficionados and like any other hobbyists, they'll put their disposable income into their hobby even if they're not well-to-do.

The shoes are uncommon enough that they're likely the best lead going, though. I hope they catch this guy.

[Irish_Dem]

40. Thanks, so could be anyone.

[Effete Snob]

45. I was a starving student at the time

But I did splurge on those sneakers and wore them for a very long tine.

[Takket]

35. interesting....

i was wondering how much as soon as I saw them. Those aren't the shoes of some poor rural farm boy MAGAt that they picked up in the clearance bin at Payless.

That's probably some upper-middle class type at the very least.

[Irish_Dem]

36. I don't know if regular folks buy these kind of shoes or not.

Normally I would agree with you. Upper middle class at least.
But half of what kids do today seems crazy to me.

[cornball 24]

27. From gitgo, I thought the perp was a female.

[Irish_Dem]

37. I assume FBI knows the gender. And has a profile.

They have video experts who can determine quite a bit just by pictures and video. That is how they identified the Boston Marathon bombers in the vast crowds.

I believe it is fairly easy to detect the height and shoe size of the this perp by measuring it against known objects. We can see the perps feet against the tiled sidewalk. Those tiles can be measured and compared to foot size. Male and female differences in size, walking gaits and body proportions are well documented.

[Kingofalldems]

41. I think it was about distracting authorities

while the Capitol was being breached.

[Effete Snob]

44. The linked FBI page notes "kitchen timers"

There aren’t a whole lot of wind up mechanical kitchen timers with a scale from 0 - 55 (and five ticks) which are going to be useful for a bomb that is supposed to go off more than an hour later.

So either they were supposed to go off that night, and failed, or they were supposed to be found.

Even concealing them in a trash bag would have prevented the first one from being seen from someone who was pretty far away.

[Irish_Dem]

42. Many signs that this was an amateur?

Only an amateur would wear uncommon and identifiable shoes?

With plenty of video cameras around when committing a serious federal crime.

Videos show the perp sauntering around, sitting down.
Why do that? Why not just go and take care of business quickly and then avoid security cameras.

[Effete Snob]

43. Are there professional pipe bombers?

One obvious thing to note is that the bombs, were not well concealed, and had a 100% failure rate, if they were intended to go off.

One might think that well-engineered bombs would not use one hour kitchen timers that depend on alligator clips to stay in place. What sort of professional did you have in mind?

[Irish_Dem]

48. There are people smarter and more experienced than this perp.

Someone with history of criminal behavior or arrest.
Someone who is not stupid.
Someone who has done this before.

Your data supports that this was someone who did not know what they were doing, and had no idea how to conceal a crime.

Also supports the idea that this was just supposed to be a distraction, not a real bomb.

[Effete Snob]

51. It is disturbing

I don’t know how common pipe bombings are in the first place.

The FBI says they are real operational bombs. So it could have been lucky that the person did not succeed.

I’d like to read an account of how they were removed. Did they use one of those mobile bomb container things and blow them up with something else?

[Irish_Dem]

52. So operational but quite crude.

Cannot find anything about disposal, except that a bomb squad did the job.

The initial reports said it was not certain when the bombs were meant to go off. Who knows when it was meant to explode.

I would think the FBI goal would be to defuse the bombs but not destroy evidence if at all possible. Fingerprints. Or signature style of pipe bomber who has done this before, etc.

[UTUSN]

54. K&R