randon Russell, a National Guardsman and self-described neo-Nazi, had plans to blow up power lines in the Everglades and launch explosives into the Turkey Point nuclear power plant, his roommate Devon Arthurs told police.
Prosecutors on Tuesday played portions of a recorded interrogation of Arthurs in the hours immediately after he was arrested in the killings of Jeremy Himmelman and Andrew Oneschuk in Tampa late last month. In the video, Arthurs offers a justification for the violence, claiming that Russell, the surviving roommate, was preparing to commit acts of terrorism.
The things they were planning were horrible, Arthurs said. These people were not good people.
The U.S. Attorneys Office presented the video excerpts in an effort to get U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas B. McCoun III to revoke an order granting Russell bail, arguing that he poses a danger to the community. Late Tuesday, the judge stayed the order. Russell will remain jailed while the judge reconsiders the issue.
Russell, 21, faces explosives charges after bomb-making materials were found at his Tampa Palms apartment May 19 during the murder investigation. Arthurs, separately, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in state court.
