Terrorist Attack That Nobody Talked About

Terrorist attack

Terrorist attack

On Oct. 6, 2017, at North Carolina’s Asheville Regional Airport, a terrorist attack that almost occurred was prevented by the help of a bomb dog and surveillance cameras. However, this attempted terrorist attack was not talked about, nor, with the exception of the Associated Press, was it reported on by major news sites. No one knows why, but it is strange there were no reports about an incident this dangerous.

At 12:39 a.m. ET, surveillance footage recorded a man suspiciously walking through the airport. He was identified as Michael Christopher Estes, 46-year-old white male. He carried a green backpack and was dressed, head-to-toe, in black on the day of the attempted terrorist attack.

Police reported that he admitted that his motive for his actions was that he was “getting ready to fight a war on U.S. soil.” Authorities have not disclosed further information about who Estes was getting ready to go to war against.

To most people, Estes’ physical appearance would not fit the stereotypical images of people who commit terrorist attacks in the U.S., which seem to dominate the airwaves. Those images usually portray those in minority demographics such as African-American, Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, and Latino.

The majority of the time, people of certain religious or cultural backgrounds are thrown into the stereotypical idea of what a terrorist looks like. So, an average American does not look at a Caucasian male and think of words like terrorism, terrorist attack/bomb threat, or simply, terrorist.

It seems as though most white men, who commit terrorist-like crimes, are often portrayed as mentally ill or having an innocent background. In turn, creating sympathy for them. Usually, that ends with the criminal either getting a slap on the wrist jail sentence, or a put into a mental facility, without suffering the full and deserved consequences of their actions.

Meanwhile, men of other races, particularly African-Americans and Latinos, have their mugshots and images slandered in the media. They are also given much harsher jail sentences. Statistically, black and Latino men receive sentences that are 20 percent longer than white men. This would not be surprising to anyone that seriously looks at history, as they can see that this pattern is not new.

The Asheville Regional Airport terrorist attack could have killed and wounded hundreds. Estes admitted to buying the materials to create the bomb, from WalMart and Lowe’s. The substances for the homemade device consisted of Ammonium Nitrate, a mason jar, steel wool, nails, bullets, cold compress, matches, fire starter gel, and an alarm clock.

Oct. 3, 2017, surveillance cameras at Lowe’s, in Arden, showed Estes purchasing gloves. Then, the next day, again at Lowe’s, purchased a black tool bag. He bought both of the items with cash.

Estes told police, that he had been rehearsing how he would place the bomb inside his Traverse 70 backpack, and leave it against a tree near the airport unsuspected. Civilians recall seeing him in the area several days in a row.

Police arrested Estes on Oct. 8, 2017. He faces 5-20 years in federal prison if found guilty of the charges levied against him. According to the Western District Court of North Carolina, he charged with Attempted Malicious Use of Explosive Materials and Unlawful Possession of Explosive Materials in an Airport. The date for Estes’ trial has not been released.

Written by Parris Winfrey
Edited by Cathy Milne

Sources:

Heavy: Michael Christopher Estes: 5 Facts You Need To Know
The Intercept: The Airport Bomber From Last Week You Never Heard About
Snopes: Attempted Bomb Attack on a North Carolina Airport?

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of juliaorige’s Pixabay Page – Creative Commons License

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