booby trap

15 Stories

Guy Who Rigged Home With Booby Traps Guilty of Felony

An FBI agent was shot in the leg by a booby-trapped wheelchair

(Newser) - An Oregon man who rigged a home with booby traps—including one inspired by the giant rolling boulder in Raiders of the Lost Ark—has been found guilty of charges including assaulting a federal officer and could face up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors said Gregory Lee Rodvelt, 71,...

Booby Trap Injures Officers Checking on Vacant Home

It happened in Wichita, Kansas

(Newser) - A blast from a “modified, loaded shotgun” injured three Kansas police officers Saturday afternoon as they checked out a vacant home, the AP reports. One of the officers was treated and released from the hospital, per KWCH . The two others remained hospitalized Sunday, according to reports, one with minor...

Booby Trap Kills Homeowner: Police
Booby Trap Kills
Homeowner: Police
Dec 1, 2019 2:50 PM CST

Booby Trap Kills Homeowner: Police

Ronald Cyr, 65, had fixed a handgun on the door

(Newser) - A Maine homeowner has died, apparently by his own hand—and by mistake. Van Buren police responded to a 911 call Thursday at the home of Ronald Cyr, 65, and found him in need of medical attention, WAGM reports. Seems he had fixed a handgun to fire on intruders at...

Booby-Trapped Knife Nearly Kills Home Investor

'It's like Home Alone ... Philly style'

(Newser) - A Philadelphia real estate investor says a home he was scoping out came with an unadvertised surprise—a stairway booby-trapped with a swinging knife, the AP reports. Ekrem Uysaler says he and his team were looking at the home in January when one of his co-workers saw a small line...

'I Blew My Arm Off,' Says Guy Who Set Off Own Booby Trap

'I've never seen anything quite like this,' says officer

(Newser) - Reminder to self: When setting up booby traps in your home, make sure you don't accidentally set them off yourself. One North Carolina man failed to heed that advice and ended up getting shot Monday morning, the Gaston Gazette reports. Police say Edwin Smith, 68, had rigged a shotgun...

Home Finally Sells, Despite Booby Trap Warning

Officials had some trouble offloading Ed and Elaine Brown's compound

(Newser) - Two New Hampshire properties finally sold at auction Thursday, despite the fact that they may be booby-trapped. The Christian Science Monitor has the backstory: A 6,000-square-foot house on a 100-acre property, plus a nearby dental office, were owned by Ed and Elaine Brown, who were convicted of tax evasion...

Nazis Turned Candy Bars Into Secret Weapon

WWII-era drawings reveal German booby-traps

(Newser) - First, force the British to endure food shortages—then make them eat exploding candy bars. That was at least part of the Nazi plan to destroy Britain during World War II, according to drawings of German weapons recently seen for the first time, the Smithsonian reports. Among the drawings: a...

James Holmes' Booby-Trapped Apartment Revealed

Police found more than 20 explosives and incendiaries rigged to blow

(Newser) - Evidence released in the wake of James Holmes' sentencing last month gives a shocking look at the deadly booby-traps the 27-year-old Aurora theater shooter had placed around his Colorado apartment. ABC News reports the apartment contained black balls filled with smokeless powder and gasoline; pickle jars containing bullets, thermite, and...

Pot Farmer Killed by Own Booby Trap

He drove ATV into piano wire trap

(Newser) - An upstate New York marijuana farmer who was apparently paranoid about somebody snatching his crop ended up being not just killed but almost decapitated by one of his own security devices, the Albany Times Union reports. Daniel Ricketts was riding an all-terrain vehicle around his property in the middle of...

Syria Booby-Traps Rebels' Ammo
Syria Booby-Traps
Rebels' Ammo
Oct 20, 2012 10:39 AM CDT

Syria Booby-Traps Rebels' Ammo

New York Times reports on 'dirty trick' of war

(Newser) - Syria has resorted to what the New York Times calls "one of the dirty tricks of the modern battlefield"—booby-trapping ammunition used by rebels. As war correspondent CJ Chivers explains, the government puts the sabotaged ammo on the black markets where the rebels get their weaponry. It's...

Holmes Plotted Colo. Massacre for 4 Months

Bomb experts defuse traps in apartment

(Newser) - James Holmes began receiving "a high volume of deliveries" of weapons and ammunition at his home and work beginning at least four months ago, indicating that the man behind Thursday night's massacre in Aurora, Colo., had been plotting his massacre even longer than police originally thought , reports Reuters...

Cops Trying to Enter Booby-Trapped Apartment
Cops Trigger Bombs in Booby-Trapped Apartment
updated
Jul 21, 2012 1:48 PM CDT

Cops Trigger Bombs in Booby-Trapped Apartment

Robot triggers first explosion at James Holmes' place

(Newser) - Police disabled a trip wire and successfully set off another triggering device today at the booby-trapped apartment of Dark Knight suspect James Holmes in Aurora, Colo., MSNBC reports. They sent in a robot to disable the trip wire with an explosive water-bottle device, notes the Denver Post . The second controlled...

Utah Men Busted for Deadly Traps on Hiking Trail

Booby traps were designed to harm hikers, police say

(Newser) - Police in Utah believe it was only luck that prevented booby traps set up along a popular hiking trail from killing or maiming somebody. One trap was designed to swing a 20-pound spiked boulder at a hiker's head while the other would cause the victim to fall on sharpened...

US Blows Up Booby-Trapped Afghan Homes

Taliban left hundreds of surprises in Kandahar

(Newser) - US forces are systematically destroying hundreds or, by some estimates, even thousands of homes in newly-captured parts of Kandahar, after finding that they’d been booby-trapped by the Taliban, the New York Times reports. NATO has been attempting to compensate the homeowners, but the effort still isn’t going over...

'Urban Terrorists' Target Calif. Cops With Booby Traps

In Riverside County, failed attempts include gas leak, gun

(Newser) - Cops in Hemet, California are the target of a potentially deadly booby trap campaign carried out by unknown assailants that attorney general and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown calls “urban terrorism.” Attempts have included flooding the offices of the local gang task force with gas, rigging a gun to...

15 Stories
Most Read on Newser