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Man's bomb plot against 'hot cheerleaders' blows up in his face

A man police have alleged wanted to blow up a shopping mall in a plot against “hot cheerleaders” instead blew off one of his hands and some of his fingers when his homemade device exploded in his face.

Cole Carini told police the shrapnel wounds across his face and neck, and his severed hand and fingers, were the result of a lawn mower accident at his home in Richlands, Virginia, on June 2.

The 23-year-old went to hospital for treatment where staff alerted the police, who then called in the FBI to investigate, according to an affidavit.

Investigators attained a warrant to search his home and found a trail of blood form a red minivan at the front of the house, up the stairs and into a bedroom on the second floor, the affidavit said.

Cole Carini has a homemade bomb intended for 'hot cheerleaders' blow up in his face. Source: Daily Beast
Cole Carini has a homemade bomb intended for 'hot cheerleaders' blow up in his face. Source: Daily Beast

Inside the room, they found a “flesh-coloured substance” that looked like a piece of human skin, and a bottle containing triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, a substance used in making improvised explosives, inside a storage chest.

Next to the storage chest was a box containing rusty nails, which “could be used as shrapnel in an explosive device” the affidavit said.

There was a blistered plastic container on the ground near the box with its lid peeled back “consistent with an explosion” and the ceiling above was splattered with blood and “a skin coloured chunk believed to be flesh”.

The blinds in the room were covered in shrapnel marks as was a t-shirt in the room, with a section of the adjacent wall also being splattered with blood.

A red shed on his grandma’s property next door was identified by investigators as a possible test site, and on closer inspection additional materials confirmed their suspicion.

Investigators shown at Carini's home following the incident. Source: wvnstv
Investigators shown at Carini's home following the incident. Source: wvnstv

Bizarre letter reveals sadistic motives

Police believe the 23-year-old was part of an online ‘incel’ community that expresses a hatred towards women stemming from involuntary celibacy.

His alleged plan was to target cheerleaders, in a deadly plot reportedly inspired by ‘incel’ mass shooter Elliot Rodger.

Investigators found a crumpled letter on the ground with pieces ripped away from it, but in part it read “he casually walked through the shopping mall, his jacket concealed deadly objects”.

“He was doing it and was assured it must be done... Even if he died this statement was worth it!,” other pieces of the letter said.

“He had... of tension that would come and go as he approached the stage of hot cheerleaders... A dead seriousness sank in as he realised he was truly passing the point of no return! He decided I will not back down I will not be afraid of the consequences no matter what I will be heroic I will make a statement like Elliott Rodgers did he thought to himself.”

Cole Carini pictured in 2016 in relation to another incident. Source: Tazewel Sheriff’s Department via Daily Beast
Cole Carini pictured in 2016 in relation to another incident. Source: Tazewel Sheriff’s Department via Daily Beast

Elliot Rodgers was a 23-year-old mass killer who killed six people and injured 14 others with a gunshot, stabbing and vehicle ramming near the University of California before taking his own life on May 23, 2014.

Rodgers was thought to have emerged a “hero” among other men known as incels.

Carini remained firm on his story about acquiring his injuries in a lawn mower incident, telling officers the machine had flipped in such a way that it “dug his hands into the blades” which were moving so fast they “acted like a bomb”.

An officer reported the grass at his property had not been cut in any section and was about 15cm tall.

Carini has been charged with making false statements to the FBI and is currently being held in federal custody awaiting a detention hearing.

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