BY JACLYN COSGROVE jcosgrove@opubco.com
A 38-year-old man arrested Tuesday told police he manufactured pipe bombs to injure or kill a man so that he could be with the man's wife, according to an affidavit.
Kevin W. Burke was arrested Tuesday evening on charges of placing an explosive device on a vehicle with intent of bodily harm or death and of manufacturing an explosive device.
On Monday, members of Oklahoma City police's bomb squad responded to a report of pipe bombs found in a semi truck at Magerus Trucking near SW 29 and Portland Ave.
Once officers arrived, they found two functional pipe bombs that hadn't detonated.
One was in the semi's gas tank, the other under the cab.
Bomb technicians concluded that, had the firing systems not malfunctioned, the bombs could have caused serious injury or death to the driver of the semi and others in the area, according to records.
Police learned that night that Steven McKinnis, the driver of the truck, might have been targeted by a person involved with his wife, according to records.
On Tuesday, witnesses told police that Burke had asked about finding an “untraceable gun” to kill a man so that he could be with the man's wife, according to the affidavit.
These witnesses also told police that Burke had been experimenting with explosives and had shared with them his plan to blow up multiple trucks where McKinnis worked so that it didn't look like McKinnis was being targeted, according to court records.
Also on Tuesday, police received a call of another pipe bomb, similar to the bombs found Monday, near SW 26 and Portland Ave.
Read more on NewsOK.com