36 Years Ago Today: Brett Kimberlin Blows Up a Speedway Patrol Car

Commemorating the anniversary of Brett Kimberlin's September 5, 1978 bomb (now with .445 caliber lead shot)

Brett Kimberlin's misdeeds were again front page news in the main Indianapolis area newspaper after Brett Kimberlin planted one of his bombs under a police patrol car on the night of September 5, 1978.

Brett's bombings up until this one

As I already explained in a previous post, Brett Kimberlin began his bombing spree in Speedway with four bombs, close to 10pm on  September 1, with the last going off in the first hours of September 2. These four bombs only destroyed some storefront windows, landscaping, and a car windshield, and the only injuries were minor cuts from flying glass. While I didn't write separate posts about them, he also set off a bomb in a cornfield and another near the Speedway Lanes bowling alley. Neither of these produced injuries, but they started a new twist in Brett Kimberlin's bombing spree: both used some of the huge amount of .445 caliber lead balls Brett bought a few weeks prior.

On the damage of the patrol car bombing

The bomb ripped off the tires and the fuel tank from the police car. Fortunately, the fuel tank didn't ignite. Two other nearby cars were also damaged, one "extensively" according to the above linked Indianapolis Star article. I am at pains to point out that the use of lead shot in Brett's bombs greatly raised the chances of killing someone. I speculated earlier that the use of lead shot could give Brett Kimberlin's bombs a substantial kill radius, similar to or even greater than that of an anti-personnel hand grenade. The cars damaged by Brett's September 5 bomb were in a residential parking lot next to some apartments, so this bomb posed serious danger to the public.

With Brett's ongoing bombing spree, it was only a short matter of time before someone would get hurt or killed. Because of Brett's abuse of the courts and intimidation of a bombing victim who will be the subject of my next post, a long matter of time has elapsed during which Brett Kimberlin evades justice for his bombings. Yes, he was convicted, but he never rendered the help to his victim as required by the civil courts, and indeed, by any reasonable principle of justice. This kind of injustice is what motivates me to write about him.

Gathering evidence

As before, all of Brett's  bombs were made from tubes of Tovex gel in an aluminum can, a lantern battery, a blasting cap, and a store-bought electronic timer that was specially altered. Forensic investigations noticed this pattern and began using the information to track down where they came from - for example, finding if anyone had recently bought a corresponding number of timers (and then altered them) and lantern batteries. The new bombs with lead shot added .445 caliber lead balls to the shopping list. This shopping list would of course directly implicate Brett Kimberlin, and this is part of how he got convicted and earned his moniker as the Speedway Bomber. I will be explaining that evidence in detail in later posts.